San Antonio College Library

We use foreign-made products every day. Some have components that originate in many different countries. This program explores how international trading connects us with other places. It looks at the history of Western manufacturing and trade and the increasing prevalence of cheaper offshore production, as well as the growth of industries such as tourism and travel in response to our connectedness across the globe.

Joanna continues her adventure following the ancient Silk Road across the Islamic Republic of Iran, home to one of the oldest civilizations on earth. A land of incredible diversity and phenomenal beauty, Iran was once the thriving heart of the mighty Persian Empire, but nowadays it's little visited by Westerners, and somewhat misunderstood. Joanna's Persian odyssey begins in Iran's capital Tehran, home to 15 million people. Politically and socially,...

Joanna starts her adventure in Venice, the European terminus of the Silk Road where she discovers how the Silk Road helped the merchants of Venice and the city state itself grow rich and powerful. Joanna witnesses first hand evidence of Marco Polo's silk road booty, and sees how that all-important commodity, silk, cemented Venice's reputation as a centre of luxury and conspicuous wealth.

Across the world, millions remain trapped in debilitating poverty, while international aid and development projects have seemingly done little to close the gap between developed and developing nations. Why have some countries grown so rich while others remain so poor? And, how can we account for the persistence of global poverty? In The End of Development, Andrew Brooks answers these questions with a provocative argument that inequality is rooted...

To manage the country, we must first control the waters, is an ancient Chinese saying that is more true today than ever. This program documents farmers' hardships-droughts that leave Shanxi Province bone-dry and floods that inundate the lands bordering the Yangtze River-and discusses the exacerbating effects of deforestation and urban growth. Also, potential remedies are showcased, including new dams, increased water conservation, sustainable agricultural...

We travel to several Polish cities to bring you the stories of exciting innovators in modern Poland. Just a quarter of a century since the fall of communism, Poles are making great strides in innovation, production and technology. You will hear the stories of innovators in the fields of cosmetics, fashion, video game production and solar technology. We explore Krakow's emerging technology hub and travel to Przemysl, the home of makeup empire Inglot....

Geographic interpretations of development recently have become the subject of much renewed interest and debate within scholarly and public policy circles. Focusing on Latin America, this book examines how physical and human geography has influenced the region's potential for economic and social development. The book assesses how geography affects differences in development between countries and more specifically between Latin America and other regions...

In Chile, Jonathan discovers a nation transformed since the demise of General Pinochet, but still working to heal the scars left by his rule. He meets the editors of a satirical magazine, rides with Chile's first female rodeo rider, crosses the Atacama Desert to a ghost town where he visits with poet Jorge Monteleagre - who says that under Pinochet the town was turned into a concentration camp where he was detained - then reaches the ocean, where...

"A spirited and incisive survey of economic geography, A World Made for Money begins with the author stopped at a red light in Norman, Oklahoma. Observing the landscape of drugstores and banks, and for that matter the stoplight and roads themselves, Bret Wallach observes, "Everything I see has been built to make money" or, at the very least, to facilitate making money. This, he argues, is a global phenomenon that nonetheless has occurred only within...