Works narrating the history of Ecuador in English are few and far between. In fact, I've yet to find a good comprehensive history of the country in English. If you want to break things down into periods, start with the award-winning The Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming (Harvest/HBJ Book, 2003), which deals with Ecuador and Peru's Inca history. This book complements Indians, Oil and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador by Allen Gerlach (SR Books, 2003), a brilliantly descriptive account of the country's modern history, political conditions, and rise of its indigenous movements. While not confined to Ecuador, I think every traveler to Latin America should read Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire (W.W. Norton & Co., 1998). This astonishing achievement tells the history of the Americas in a poetic prose and unique style that redefines the form, function, and potential of nonfiction history.
Ecuador has produced some excellent literary talents. Unfortunately, though, Ecuadorian authors are not widely read outside the country, at least not in comparison to writers from other parts of Latin America -- many works aren't translated and those that are can be difficult to come by. Below are a few recommendations for those itching to get their hands on some authentic Ecuadorian prose.
Jorge Icaza (1906-79) was one of the 20th century's most notable authors. His seminal work, Huasipungo (1934), tells of the exploitation suffered by the local indigenous peoples at the hands of their colonizers; it's an excellently written, extremely insightful critique on Ecuadorian society. Its English translation is titled The Villagers (Southern Illinois University, 1964). Demetrio Aguilera Malta is another distinguished author whose first, and most successful work of magical realism, Don Goyo (Humana Press, 1980), has been compared to Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Following this success, Aguilera Malta's Babelandia (Springer-Verlag, 1985) somewhat satirically yet comically tells of the kidnapping of a corrupt general in a Latin American dictatorship by a group of guerillas. Enrique Gil Gilbert's Our Daily Bread (Farrar and Rinehart, 1983) is another novel that received international critical acclaim in the mid-20th century. Juyungo (Passeggiata, 1991), penned by the late Adalberto Ortiz (1914-2003), incorporates elements of Afro-American culture and identity, as well as telling of the exploitation and discrimination faced by Afro-Americans within a Latin American society.
As far as contemporary reading goes, Abdón Ubidia's celebrated novel Wolves' Dreams (Latin American Literary Press Review, 1996) emerged in the 1980s as a superb insight into Ecuador's political and economic realities in the context of an attempted bank robbery. Eliécer Cárdenas's novels signify a break with tradition on the country's literary scene in an attempt to dig up an Ecuador buried and forgotten; his most celebrated, critically acclaimed realist work is Polvo y Ceniza (Dust and Ashes; Eskeletra, 1978), which has been translated into a number of languages.
For natural-history and wildlife buffs, my all-time favorite book is Tropical Nature, by Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata (Touchstone Books, 1987). This is a lively collection of tales and adventures by two neotropical biologists; a lot of their research was carried out in Ecuador. The best all-purpose field guide for those visiting the country is David L. Pearson and Les Beletsky's Traveller's Wildlife Guide: Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands (Interlink, 2005). Amazon Wildlife, by Hans Ulrich Bernard (Insight Guides, 2002), is a visual, detailed guide on jungle life. For bird lovers, Common Birds of Amazonian Ecuador, by Chris Canday and Lou Jost (Ediciones Libri Mundi, 1997), provides a good overview; for more detailed descriptions and comprehensive listing of species for the whole country, grab Robert Ridgely and others' The Birds of Ecuador (Comstock Publishing, 2001). Birds, Mammals and Reptiles of the Galápagos Islands, by Andy Swash and Rob Still (A&C Black Publishers, 2005), is a fully illustrated, colorful, descriptive, yet user-friendly guide to Galápagos fauna and birdlife.
Perhaps the most common book ordered by those heading to the Galápagos Islands is a reprint of Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle (Penguin, 1999). Running a close second is Darwin's The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (Signet Classics, 2003). I recommend David Quammen's The Song of the Dodo (Scribner, 1996), which is admittedly tangential to Ecuador and the Galápagos, but really gives you a good sense of the foundation of the theory of evolution, as well as its impact, implications, and current development.
