The Ticos

by Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz

Written with the perspective of more than a half-century of firsthand observation, this social and cultural history describes how Costa Rica's economy, government, educational and health-care systems, family structures, religion, and other institutions have evolved and how this evolution has affected - and reflected - people's daily lives, their beliefs, and their values. The authors are particularly concerned with change and continuity since the economic crisis of the early 1980s and the structural adjustment that followed.