Best colombian history books according to redditors

The tragic thing is, they probably will be killed.

Colombia has the highest level of labour oppression in the world, with over 63% of all trade union murders in the world occuring there.

Whilst this book is mostly about the FARC-EP, it provides a concise and informative overview of the persecution of Communists, Socialists and anybody involved in the labour struggle in Colombia over the past half-century, to top it off, each chapter is backed up by sources.

One to stick on your reading list.

Taussig's Diary of a Limpieza is one of my favorites, although it's a dark subject to read about.

This is a fiction novel, but The Tale of Murasaki is written by an anthropologist. I also recommend the author's non-fiction work on Geisha. :)

I understand where you are coming from. I also understand being frustrated with a situation that appears hopeless. The truth is that while I sympathize with any armed groups that take on cartels (or say in the case of Colombia, communists) the logic of war does not lend itself to resolving political or social questions. For instance let us say that you are the leader of a paramilitary gang.. what is your criteria for inclusion? Do you mandate disciplined well-established members of the community who share your politics? Or instead do you let in whoever is willing to fight? It is generally accepted that crazy-violent-people are about 2% of pop, and we can imagine that the job of being a vigilante will select for them more than average. How do you discipline these members? If you are too authoritarian they will defect to your enemies and sell you out. Also, the drug traffickers have endless resources and the nature of war is increased spending year over year the past five hundred years. So how do you make money to fund your auto-defense league? Well you probably need some taxes.. maybe levy some fines.. maybe confiscate some criminal goods.. you can see how this would end up leading to the multiplication of government that is commonly (and inaccurately) called anarchy.

edit: if you don't like that article want me to cite the scholarly literature in journals and books?

PDF: On economic causes of civil war

PDF: Paramilitarism in Colombia: the thin line between
armed politics and crime

WARNING: BOOK! Blood and Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia

If you want to start with the colonial period, I'd start with Matthew Restall's "Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest": http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Spanish-Conquest-Matthew-Restall/dp/0195176111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416504333&sr=8-1&keywords=restall+seven+myths+of+the+spanish+conquest. It is about demystifying certain aspects of the conquest and it's highly readable, insightful and entertaining.
Then, I would definitely go for Steve J. Stern's "Huamanga": http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Peoples-Challenge-Spanish-Conquest/dp/0299141845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416504068&sr=8-1&keywords=huamanga. It concentrates on Peru, but it is totally relevant to Latin America's global colonial experience.
I would also recommend, for a survey of the andean nineteenth-century's socio-political landscape, Brooke Larson's "Trials of Nation-making": http://www.amazon.com/Trials-Nation-Making-Liberalism-Ethnicity/dp/0521567300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416504627&sr=8-1&keywords=brooke+larson. It's a well written, synthetic and critical explanation of how race and ethnicity played a key role in defining the political projects of the Andean elite after the independence.
After all that we could move on to the twentieth-century...

If you are looking for movies, as a chronological introduction, go for: Herzog's "Aguirre", Joffé's "The Mission", Alea's "La última cena", Eisenstein's "Que viva Mexico", Kalatasov's "Soy Cuba", Soderbergh's "Che", Alea's "Memorias del subdesarollo" Costa-Gavras' "State of siege" and "Missing", Guzman's "La batalla de Chile", Polanski's "Death and the Maiden", Puenzo's "La historia official", Bollaín's "También la lluvia"

You have a lot of fun in front of you. Good luck!

Hi, I'd like to help you in your search for places to visit. I know some really good guides of Colombia. They are the "Moon" Travel Guides - Colombia. These were written by an american guy called Andrew Dier. In them you can read about various places throughout the country and how to get there. Also you can find things like, special festivities such as carnavals and fairs and when to come.

Here is the link to it: http://moon.com/explore/colombia/

You can also buy the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Colombia-Handbooks-Andrew-Dier/dp/161238627X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0ZMK6RBR4RGV0M90RE2B

Spotlight on Cartagena and the Caribbean: http://www.amazon.com/Spotlight-Cartagena-Colombias-Caribbean-Coast/dp/163121098X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0ZMK6RBR4RGV0M90RE2B

Spotlight on Bogota: http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Spotlight-Bogot%C3%A1-Andrew-Dier/dp/1631210971/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0ZMK6RBR4RGV0M90RE2B

Spotlight on Medellin and the Coffee Region: http://www.amazon.com/Spotlight-Medell%C3%ADn-Colombias-Coffee-Region/dp/1631210998/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1T8P4VQ3ZPK3J7R9E4K6

I hope you find it useful. Oh, by the way, the guy who wrote this guide came here just as a tourist and was so amazed by the country that he stayed here. Its been twelve years now.

Do a search on bushbird: http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Birds-Colombia-Steven-Hilty/dp/069108372X/

I've heard House of Leaves is really bizarre and cool.

My current deck is Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, Between Legitimacy and Violence: A History of Colombia, 1875-2002, Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, Blood Meridian, and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

It's a really depressing list.

I read American Gods a couple years ago and hated it enough to not pick up another fiction book for like over a year.