Canter Bridge

This exceptionally planned and executed visual introduction to the Colombia surpasses any other coffee-table book about a nation or region that I’ve seen.

Its 333 pages and high-quality paper stock make it an admirably heavy work, a full five pounds in the lifting.

Best of all, its exquisitely photographed images communicate the beauty and stunningly regionalized diversity of this South American nation. The prose does not pander to the reader, but introduces him or her to just enough context to form a helpful setting to the photography, which dominates.

A well-written (in Spanish) ‘Prologue’ and ‘Presentation’ give way to a presentation of one of the signature characteristics of the country: ‘Territorio de Contrastes’ (A Territory of Contrasts). The rest of the work leads the reader across the major regions of this vast country: ‘Altiplano Cundiboyacense y Santanderes’, ‘Region Caribe’, ‘Antioquia y Región Cafeteria’, ‘Pacífico’, ‘Sur Andino’, ‘Alto Magdalena’, ‘Orinoquía’, and finally ‘Amazonía’.

Although a work like this inevitably indulges in some cherry-picking (little poverty is glimpsed in these pages and the written description of long-ago conflict is not matched by similar attention to more recent woes), the fact that each region is given balanced coverage offsets to some degree any reading that would skew towards a tourist’s presumed preference.

The high price tag (except for a few inexpensive used copies available at the time of this reviewer’s writing) is merited by the product itself. Though not the intended user, a non-Spanish reader could make good use of this handsome volume.

This is a work of which the beauty and quality do justice to the natural and human nobility of Colombia and Colombians at their best. I highly recommend it.