Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World (in Spanish Patas Arriba: la Escuela del Mundo al Revés), originally published in Spanish in 1998, was written by Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan author who was greatly impacted by the political turmoil during the 20th century military regimes in Latin America.

Within this piece of nonfiction, he explores themes such as modern education systems, racism, sexism, poverty, economics, work, and societal fear.

Primer, in this case, both indicates Galeano’s wish for this to be the initial textbook that engenders a new structure of thought and also suggests a secondary meaning; he views Upside Down as a text that provides a clear foundation.

Galeano’s epigraph clues the reader into this by farcically posturing Al Capone, as an authority on honor, law, and virtue.

Common views of power and hierarchy within societies, institutions, and media begin to look less believable when held against the raw numbers Galeano presents to his readers.

Galeano shares the personal story of a street kid who looks to drugs to rid himself of all the problems he faces in his daily life of poverty.

[10] Galeano points out that it is counterintuitive to be financially unappreciative of those who are greatly involved in forming the next generation of workers and citizens.

[14] The system of economics, explains Galeano, seems to be dichotomized these days: "You have a job or you have nothing",[15] "What is rewarded above is punished below",[16] "Profits are privatized, losses are socialized".

[19] The ideology presented in Upside Down reflects both Galeano’s contemporary, public rhetoric and the ideas behind the movements with which he is involved.

Endorsing egalitarian social conditions, Galeano continues to reiterate one of the fundamental messages found in Upside Down, i.e. that control must be placed over the global forces that influence people’s lives.

In a recent manifesto issued by a prominent group of leftists, Galeano, along with other leading activists such as Naomi Klein, demonstrated his cries for increased democratization over the global institutions that influence many aspects of people’s lives.

Seeking to deconstruct the imperialist dominance that such establishments embody and perpetuate to the end of great inequality, both racial and social, the manifesto declares, “We are all born equal, rich or poor, woman or man.