Tracy Novinger

1973. Attractive Alissia Aruba Saxton has the life she's relentlessly pursued. She's got a high-level job. She's engaged to be married. Everything is unfolding according to the careful, responsible plan by which she has always lived. Beneath the surface of Alissia's apparently perfect life lies deep and abiding guilt sparked by events from her childhood. During the dangerous days of World War II, Aruba had seemed like a peaceful paradise, but when German intelligence focused on the tiny island's little-known role in helping Allied forces, Aruba was destined to be drawn into the conflict. The war left a disturbing legacy in Aruba, which led to the later death that still tugs at Alissia's conscience. Abandoning career and fianc , Alissia returns home to confront the past-and hopefully lay her guilt to rest. Amid a backdrop of tranquil lagoons and faithful trade-wind, Alissia tries to resolve her doubts and fulfill her desires. A captivating tale of one person's journey to face childhood ghosts, Betrayal on Aruba Winds transports readers to a time before Aruba became a modern-day tourist destination. Readers will not forget that it is one's perception that becomes one's reality and that WWII reached Aruba.

Brazilians are gracious, friendly, fun-loving people, which makes their country a very inviting place to visit for pleasure or business. So great is their cordiality that Brazilians will say "yes" to almost any request—even when they actually mean "no"—which can be quite confusing for U.S. visitors who are used to a more direct style of communication. In fact, as Americans spend time in Brazil, they discover a number of cultural differences that can hamper their communication with Brazilians. To overcome these barriers, this book analyzes Brazilian culture and modes of communication and compares them with their American counterparts to help Americans learn to communicate successfully with Brazilians and vice versa. To aid Americans in understanding the Brazilian perspective, Tracy Novinger presents a portrait of Brazil's history, racial fusion, economy, and contemporary lifestyles. She focuses in on many aspects of Brazilian culture, such as social organization and ranking systems; preconceptions, worldviews, and values; sexual behaviors and eating customs; thought patterns; nonverbal communication such as the use of time, space, gestures, touch, eye contact, rituals, etc.; and differences in Brazilian and American point-making styles when negotiating, persuading, and conversing. For quick reference, she concludes the book with a summary and checklist of the leading Brazilian cultural characteristics, as well as eight recommendations for enhancing intercultural communication.

Successfully communicating with people from another culture requires learning more than just their language. While fumbling a word or phrase may cause embarrassment, breaking the unspoken cultural rules that govern personal interactions can spell disaster for businesspeople, travelers, and indeed anyone who communicates across cultural boundaries. To help you avoid such damaging gaffes, Tracy Novinger has compiled this authoritative, practical guide for deciphering and following "the rules" that govern cultures, demonstrating how these rules apply to the communication issues that exist between the United States and Mexico. Novinger begins by explaining how a major proportion of communication within a culture occurs nonverbally through behavior and manners, shared attitudes, common expectations, and so on. Then, using real-life examples and anecdotes, she pinpoints the commonly occurring obstacles to communication that can arise when cultures differ in their communication techniques. She shows how these obstacles come into play in contacts between the U.S. and Mexico and demonstrates that mastering the unspoken rules of Mexican culture is a key to cementing business and social relationships. Novinger concludes with nine effective, reliable principles for successfully communicating across cultures.