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In this follow-up to the author's first book, Across Eurasia, Toby Smith sets out on an adventure that takes him overland, from the wilds of Alaska to the barren tip of Argentina, and back again. Smith and his partner Tamara leave Alaska in a battered 1973 Datsun 510, which they reluctantly abandon in the American Midwest, and continue on into Mexico and across Central and South America via bus, boat, train, and whatever transportation the locals rely upon. A little luck and the kindness of strangers help them survive political unrest, spiraling crime, despotic regimes, guerrillas, armed police, bandits, strikes, and protests - all functions of what Smith calls the American Dichotomy - in addition to Arctic blizzards, unreliable vehicles, shady used car salesmen, roach-infested hotels, erupting volcanoes, reckless bus drivers, tropical diseases, torrential rains, mudslides, altitude sickness, and dicey border crossings. Along the way, Smith explores the realities behind, and reasons for, Latin America's tumultuous and often violent past. The stories of those he meets along the way serve as poignant reminders of what can happen anywhere, in any era, when power is left unchecked.
