Author: Christopher B. Conway
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813026831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"A fascinating multidisciplinary cultural analysis of the figure of Bolívar that will be uniquely useful to those attempting to grapple with the influence of this figure on the Latin American imagination. Conway's persuasive and subtle analyses of historical, literary, and visual sources demonstrate how the authoritative image of Bolívar was constructed, appropriated, and contested from the independence period through the present."--Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, Wheaton College The Cult of Bolívar explores the Latin American cult of Simón Bolívar in modern literature through a broad array of texts that include fiction, children's literature, poetry, journalism, and presidential speeches. The image of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) has been central to debates about Latin American identity since the 19th century and has been continually readapted to address current problems. This study examines the interplay of myth and disillusionment in modern representations of Bolívar. After outlining the emergence of the Cult of Bolívar during the Wars of Independence and the early national period, Christopher Conway uses novels to frame in-depth discussions of issues central to Bolivarian nationalism: the deification of the hero, monuments and iconoclasm, fatherhood and sexuality, and the promise and failure of modernity. This interdisciplinary study argues that representations of Bolívar trace the difficult and often contradictory processes by which nationalism imagines its past, present, and future. In addition to original archival research about the rise of Bolivarian nationalism in the 19th century and literary analyses of key novels such as Gabriel García Márquez's The General in His Labyrinth, Conway includes discussions of contemporary Latin American art and presidential politics. He utilizes gender studies and a broad spectrum of Bolivariana to frame our understanding of different aspects of hero worship. Also covered are controversial representations of Bolívar that resulted in public outcries in Latin America, such as Juan Dávila's hermaphroditic painting of Simón Bolívar and Denzil Romero's pornographic novel about Bolívar's mistress, Manuela Sáenz. Christopher B. Conway is assistant professor of Hispanic studies at Brown University. He is the editor of Peruvian Traditions by Ricardo Palma (2003) and has published articles on Latin American literature in Hispanic Review, Revista de Crítica Literaria, Latinoamericana, and other international journals.
The Cult of Bolívar in Latin American Literature
Author: Christopher B. Conway
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813026831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"A fascinating multidisciplinary cultural analysis of the figure of Bolívar that will be uniquely useful to those attempting to grapple with the influence of this figure on the Latin American imagination. Conway's persuasive and subtle analyses of historical, literary, and visual sources demonstrate how the authoritative image of Bolívar was constructed, appropriated, and contested from the independence period through the present."--Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, Wheaton College The Cult of Bolívar explores the Latin American cult of Simón Bolívar in modern literature through a broad array of texts that include fiction, children's literature, poetry, journalism, and presidential speeches. The image of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) has been central to debates about Latin American identity since the 19th century and has been continually readapted to address current problems. This study examines the interplay of myth and disillusionment in modern representations of Bolívar. After outlining the emergence of the Cult of Bolívar during the Wars of Independence and the early national period, Christopher Conway uses novels to frame in-depth discussions of issues central to Bolivarian nationalism: the deification of the hero, monuments and iconoclasm, fatherhood and sexuality, and the promise and failure of modernity. This interdisciplinary study argues that representations of Bolívar trace the difficult and often contradictory processes by which nationalism imagines its past, present, and future. In addition to original archival research about the rise of Bolivarian nationalism in the 19th century and literary analyses of key novels such as Gabriel García Márquez's The General in His Labyrinth, Conway includes discussions of contemporary Latin American art and presidential politics. He utilizes gender studies and a broad spectrum of Bolivariana to frame our understanding of different aspects of hero worship. Also covered are controversial representations of Bolívar that resulted in public outcries in Latin America, such as Juan Dávila's hermaphroditic painting of Simón Bolívar and Denzil Romero's pornographic novel about Bolívar's mistress, Manuela Sáenz. Christopher B. Conway is assistant professor of Hispanic studies at Brown University. He is the editor of Peruvian Traditions by Ricardo Palma (2003) and has published articles on Latin American literature in Hispanic Review, Revista de Crítica Literaria, Latinoamericana, and other international journals.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813026831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"A fascinating multidisciplinary cultural analysis of the figure of Bolívar that will be uniquely useful to those attempting to grapple with the influence of this figure on the Latin American imagination. Conway's persuasive and subtle analyses of historical, literary, and visual sources demonstrate how the authoritative image of Bolívar was constructed, appropriated, and contested from the independence period through the present."--Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, Wheaton College The Cult of Bolívar explores the Latin American cult of Simón Bolívar in modern literature through a broad array of texts that include fiction, children's literature, poetry, journalism, and presidential speeches. The image of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) has been central to debates about Latin American identity since the 19th century and has been continually readapted to address current problems. This study examines the interplay of myth and disillusionment in modern representations of Bolívar. After outlining the emergence of the Cult of Bolívar during the Wars of Independence and the early national period, Christopher Conway uses novels to frame in-depth discussions of issues central to Bolivarian nationalism: the deification of the hero, monuments and iconoclasm, fatherhood and sexuality, and the promise and failure of modernity. This interdisciplinary study argues that representations of Bolívar trace the difficult and often contradictory processes by which nationalism imagines its past, present, and future. In addition to original archival research about the rise of Bolivarian nationalism in the 19th century and literary analyses of key novels such as Gabriel García Márquez's The General in His Labyrinth, Conway includes discussions of contemporary Latin American art and presidential politics. He utilizes gender studies and a broad spectrum of Bolivariana to frame our understanding of different aspects of hero worship. Also covered are controversial representations of Bolívar that resulted in public outcries in Latin America, such as Juan Dávila's hermaphroditic painting of Simón Bolívar and Denzil Romero's pornographic novel about Bolívar's mistress, Manuela Sáenz. Christopher B. Conway is assistant professor of Hispanic studies at Brown University. He is the editor of Peruvian Traditions by Ricardo Palma (2003) and has published articles on Latin American literature in Hispanic Review, Revista de Crítica Literaria, Latinoamericana, and other international journals.
Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater
Author: Richard Young
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810874989
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 749
Book Description
The Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater provides users with an accessible single-volume reference tool covering Portuguese-speaking Brazil and the 16 Spanish-speaking countries of continental Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela). Entries for authors, ranging from the early colonial period to the present, give succinct biographical data and an account of the author's literary production, with particular attention to their most prominent works and where they belong in literary history. The introduction provides a review of Latin American literature and theater as a whole while separate dictionary entries for each country offer insight into the history of national literatures. Entries for literary terms, movements, and genres serve to complement these commentaries, and an extensive bibliography points the way for further reading. The comprehensive view and detailed information obtained from all these elements will make this book of use to the general-interest reader, Latin American studies students, and the academic specialist.
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810874989
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 749
Book Description
The Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater provides users with an accessible single-volume reference tool covering Portuguese-speaking Brazil and the 16 Spanish-speaking countries of continental Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela). Entries for authors, ranging from the early colonial period to the present, give succinct biographical data and an account of the author's literary production, with particular attention to their most prominent works and where they belong in literary history. The introduction provides a review of Latin American literature and theater as a whole while separate dictionary entries for each country offer insight into the history of national literatures. Entries for literary terms, movements, and genres serve to complement these commentaries, and an extensive bibliography points the way for further reading. The comprehensive view and detailed information obtained from all these elements will make this book of use to the general-interest reader, Latin American studies students, and the academic specialist.
Simon Bolivar
Author: Maureen G. Shanahan
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813055970
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
One of Latin America's most famous historical figures, Simón Bolívar has become a mythic symbol for many nations, empires, and revolutions, used to support wildly diverse--sometimes opposite--ideas. From colonial Cuba to Nazi-occupied France to Soviet Slovenia, the image of "El Libertador" has served a range of political and cultural purposes. Here, an array of international and interdisciplinary scholars shows how Bolívar has appeared over the last two centuries in paintings, fiction, poetry, music, film, festivals, dance traditions, city planning, and even reliquary adoration. Whether exalted, reimagined, or fragmented, Bolívar's body has taken on a range of different meanings to represent the politics and poetics of today's national bodies. Through critical approaches to diverse cultural Bolivarianisms, this collection demonstrates the capacity of the arts and humanities to challenge and reinvent hegemonic narratives and thus vital dimensions of democracy.
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813055970
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
One of Latin America's most famous historical figures, Simón Bolívar has become a mythic symbol for many nations, empires, and revolutions, used to support wildly diverse--sometimes opposite--ideas. From colonial Cuba to Nazi-occupied France to Soviet Slovenia, the image of "El Libertador" has served a range of political and cultural purposes. Here, an array of international and interdisciplinary scholars shows how Bolívar has appeared over the last two centuries in paintings, fiction, poetry, music, film, festivals, dance traditions, city planning, and even reliquary adoration. Whether exalted, reimagined, or fragmented, Bolívar's body has taken on a range of different meanings to represent the politics and poetics of today's national bodies. Through critical approaches to diverse cultural Bolivarianisms, this collection demonstrates the capacity of the arts and humanities to challenge and reinvent hegemonic narratives and thus vital dimensions of democracy.
Tropes of Enlightenment in the Age of Bolivar
Author: Ronald Briggs
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 0826516955
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
The life and work of a mentor to Simon Bolivar
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 0826516955
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249
Book Description
The life and work of a mentor to Simon Bolivar
Fashion, Gender and Agency in Latin American and Spanish Literature
Author: Stephanie N. Saunders
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1855663422
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 221
Book Description
In the last two decades, the glorification of sewing - whether involving needlework, tailoring, or fashion design - has thrived in Latin American and Iberian cultural works, particularly literature.In the last two decades, the glorification of sewing - whether involving needlework, tailoring, or fashion design - has thrived in Latin American and Iberian cultural works, particularly literature. While fast fashion has relegated the handicraft to maquiladoras in the Global South, Spanish and Latin American authors have created protagonists whose skill with needle and thread allows them to break out of culturally confining roles and spaces. In this fictional realm, seamstresses and tailors enter exciting adventures as spies, peacemakers, or explorers, all facilitated by their artistry and expertise. This book examines the depiction of women and the textile arts in contemporary Hispanic and Brazilian literature. Employing space and gender theories, the book explores how sewing, traditionally viewed as respectable only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.en's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1855663422
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 221
Book Description
In the last two decades, the glorification of sewing - whether involving needlework, tailoring, or fashion design - has thrived in Latin American and Iberian cultural works, particularly literature.In the last two decades, the glorification of sewing - whether involving needlework, tailoring, or fashion design - has thrived in Latin American and Iberian cultural works, particularly literature. While fast fashion has relegated the handicraft to maquiladoras in the Global South, Spanish and Latin American authors have created protagonists whose skill with needle and thread allows them to break out of culturally confining roles and spaces. In this fictional realm, seamstresses and tailors enter exciting adventures as spies, peacemakers, or explorers, all facilitated by their artistry and expertise. This book examines the depiction of women and the textile arts in contemporary Hispanic and Brazilian literature. Employing space and gender theories, the book explores how sewing, traditionally viewed as respectable only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.le only if practiced at home, gives agency and encourages self-reflection and mobility,allowing protagonists to transgress physical and socially prescribed limits. Texts analyzed include María Dueñas's El tiempo entre costuras (2009), César Aira's La costurera y el viento (1994), Pedro Lemebel's Tengo miedo torero (2001), Frances Ponte de Peebles's The Seamstress (2009), and children's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.en's literature. Encouraging readers to look behind garments to the agents of production, the book shows how contemporary authors, through their celebrations of an age-old skill, help to renew interest in sewing, tailoring, upcycling, and embroidery.
Simón Bolívar (Simon Bolivar)
Author: John Lynch
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300126044
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Chronicles the life of Simón Bolívar, exploring his political career, leadership dynamics, rule over the people of Spanish America, and impact on world history.
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300126044
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Chronicles the life of Simón Bolívar, exploring his political career, leadership dynamics, rule over the people of Spanish America, and impact on world history.
For Glory and Bolívar
Author: Pamela S. Murray
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778716
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
She was a friend, lover, and confidante of charismatic Spanish American independence hero Simón Bolívar and, after her death, a nationalist icon in her own right. Yet authors generally have chosen either to romanticize Manuela Sáenz or to discount her altogether. For Glory and Bolivar: The Remarkable of Life of Manuela Sáenz, by contrast, offers a comprehensive and clear-eyed biography of her. Based on unprecedented archival research, it paints a vivid portrait of the Quito-born "Libertadora," revealing both an exceptional figure and a flesh-and-blood person whose life broadly reflected the experiences of women during Spanish America's turbulent Age of Revolution. Already married at the time of her meeting with the famous Liberator, Sáenz abandoned her husband in order to become not only Bolívar's romantic companion, but also his official archivist, a member of his inner circle, and one of his most loyal followers. She played a central role in Spanish South America's independence drama and eventually in developments leading to the consolidation of new nations. Pamela Murray, for the first time, closely examines Sáenz's political trajectory including her vital, often-overlooked years in exile. She exposes the myths that still surround her. She offers, in short, a nuanced and much-needed historical perspective, one that balances recognition of Sáenz's uniqueness with awareness of the broader forces that shaped this dynamic nineteenth-century woman.
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778716
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
She was a friend, lover, and confidante of charismatic Spanish American independence hero Simón Bolívar and, after her death, a nationalist icon in her own right. Yet authors generally have chosen either to romanticize Manuela Sáenz or to discount her altogether. For Glory and Bolivar: The Remarkable of Life of Manuela Sáenz, by contrast, offers a comprehensive and clear-eyed biography of her. Based on unprecedented archival research, it paints a vivid portrait of the Quito-born "Libertadora," revealing both an exceptional figure and a flesh-and-blood person whose life broadly reflected the experiences of women during Spanish America's turbulent Age of Revolution. Already married at the time of her meeting with the famous Liberator, Sáenz abandoned her husband in order to become not only Bolívar's romantic companion, but also his official archivist, a member of his inner circle, and one of his most loyal followers. She played a central role in Spanish South America's independence drama and eventually in developments leading to the consolidation of new nations. Pamela Murray, for the first time, closely examines Sáenz's political trajectory including her vital, often-overlooked years in exile. She exposes the myths that still surround her. She offers, in short, a nuanced and much-needed historical perspective, one that balances recognition of Sáenz's uniqueness with awareness of the broader forces that shaped this dynamic nineteenth-century woman.
Grief and Genre in American Literature, 1790-1870
Author: Desirée Henderson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317124480
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Focusing on the role of genre in the formation of dominant conceptions of death and dying, Desirée Henderson examines literary texts and social spaces devoted to death and mourning in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America. Henderson shows how William Hill Brown, Susanna Rowson, and Hannah Webster borrowed from and challenged funeral sermon conventions in their novelistic portrayals of the deaths of fallen women; contrasts the eulogies for George Washington with William Apess's "Eulogy for King Philip" to expose conflicts between national ideology and indigenous history; examines Frederick Douglass's use of the slave cemetery to represent the costs of slavery for African American families; suggests that the ideas about democracy materialized in Civil War cemeteries and monuments influenced Walt Whitman's war elegies; and offers new contexts for analyzing Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's The Gates Ajar and Emily Dickinson's poetry as works that explore the consequences of female writers claiming authority over the mourning process. Informed by extensive archival research, Henderson's study eloquently speaks to the ways in which authors adopted, revised, or rejected the conventions of memorial literature, choices that disclose their location within decisive debates about appropriate gender roles and sexual practices, national identity and citizenship, the consequences of slavery, the nature of democratic representation, and structures of authorship and literary authority.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317124480
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
Focusing on the role of genre in the formation of dominant conceptions of death and dying, Desirée Henderson examines literary texts and social spaces devoted to death and mourning in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America. Henderson shows how William Hill Brown, Susanna Rowson, and Hannah Webster borrowed from and challenged funeral sermon conventions in their novelistic portrayals of the deaths of fallen women; contrasts the eulogies for George Washington with William Apess's "Eulogy for King Philip" to expose conflicts between national ideology and indigenous history; examines Frederick Douglass's use of the slave cemetery to represent the costs of slavery for African American families; suggests that the ideas about democracy materialized in Civil War cemeteries and monuments influenced Walt Whitman's war elegies; and offers new contexts for analyzing Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's The Gates Ajar and Emily Dickinson's poetry as works that explore the consequences of female writers claiming authority over the mourning process. Informed by extensive archival research, Henderson's study eloquently speaks to the ways in which authors adopted, revised, or rejected the conventions of memorial literature, choices that disclose their location within decisive debates about appropriate gender roles and sexual practices, national identity and citizenship, the consequences of slavery, the nature of democratic representation, and structures of authorship and literary authority.
Silver, Sword, and Stone
Author: Marie Arana
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501105019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Winner, American Library Association Booklist’s Top of the List, 2019 Adult Nonfiction Acclaimed writer Marie Arana delivers a cultural history of Latin America and the three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). “Meticulously researched, [this] book’s greatest strengths are the power of its epic narrative, the beauty of its prose, and its rich portrayals of character…Marvelous” (The Washington Post). Leonor Gonzales lives in a tiny community perched 18,000 feet above sea level in the Andean cordillera of Peru, the highest human habitation on earth. Like her late husband, she works the gold mines much as the Indians were forced to do at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Illiteracy, malnutrition, and disease reign as they did five hundred years ago. And now, just as then, a miner’s survival depends on a vast global market whose fluctuations are controlled in faraway places. Carlos Buergos is a Cuban who fought in the civil war in Angola and now lives in a quiet community outside New Orleans. He was among hundreds of criminals Cuba expelled to the US in 1980. His story echoes the violence that has coursed through the Americas since before Columbus to the crushing savagery of the Spanish Conquest, and from 19th- and 20th-century wars and revolutions to the military crackdowns that convulse Latin America to this day. Xavier Albó is a Jesuit priest from Barcelona who emigrated to Bolivia, where he works among the indigenous people. He considers himself an Indian in head and heart and, for this, is well known in his adopted country. Although his aim is to learn rather than proselytize, he is an inheritor of a checkered past, where priests marched alongside conquistadors, converting the natives to Christianity, often forcibly, in the effort to win the New World. Ever since, the Catholic Church has played a central role in the political life of Latin America—sometimes for good, sometimes not. In this “timely and excellent volume” (NPR) Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained propensity to violence, and the abiding power of religion. Silver, Sword, and Stone combines “learned historical analysis with in-depth reporting and political commentary...[and] an informed and authoritative voice, one that deserves a wide audience” (The New York Times Book Review).
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501105019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Winner, American Library Association Booklist’s Top of the List, 2019 Adult Nonfiction Acclaimed writer Marie Arana delivers a cultural history of Latin America and the three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). “Meticulously researched, [this] book’s greatest strengths are the power of its epic narrative, the beauty of its prose, and its rich portrayals of character…Marvelous” (The Washington Post). Leonor Gonzales lives in a tiny community perched 18,000 feet above sea level in the Andean cordillera of Peru, the highest human habitation on earth. Like her late husband, she works the gold mines much as the Indians were forced to do at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Illiteracy, malnutrition, and disease reign as they did five hundred years ago. And now, just as then, a miner’s survival depends on a vast global market whose fluctuations are controlled in faraway places. Carlos Buergos is a Cuban who fought in the civil war in Angola and now lives in a quiet community outside New Orleans. He was among hundreds of criminals Cuba expelled to the US in 1980. His story echoes the violence that has coursed through the Americas since before Columbus to the crushing savagery of the Spanish Conquest, and from 19th- and 20th-century wars and revolutions to the military crackdowns that convulse Latin America to this day. Xavier Albó is a Jesuit priest from Barcelona who emigrated to Bolivia, where he works among the indigenous people. He considers himself an Indian in head and heart and, for this, is well known in his adopted country. Although his aim is to learn rather than proselytize, he is an inheritor of a checkered past, where priests marched alongside conquistadors, converting the natives to Christianity, often forcibly, in the effort to win the New World. Ever since, the Catholic Church has played a central role in the political life of Latin America—sometimes for good, sometimes not. In this “timely and excellent volume” (NPR) Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained propensity to violence, and the abiding power of religion. Silver, Sword, and Stone combines “learned historical analysis with in-depth reporting and political commentary...[and] an informed and authoritative voice, one that deserves a wide audience” (The New York Times Book Review).
Simón Bolívar
Author: Lester D. Langley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742566552
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 167
Book Description
This compelling biography offers a unique perspective on the life and career of one of Latin America's most famous—and most adulated—historical figures. Departing from the conventional, narrow treatment of Bolívar's role in the Spanish-American wars of independence (1810–1825), leading historian Lester D. Langley frames this remarkable figure as the quintessential Venezuelan rebel, who by circumstance and sheer will rose to be the continent's most noted revolutionary and liberator. In the process, he became both a unifying and a divisive presence whose symbolic influence remains powerful even today. Twice Bolívar gained power, twice he confronted a formidable counterrevolution, twice he was compelled to flee. His ultimate tactic of using slave and mixed-race troops aroused both the admiration and fear of U.S. leaders and became a topic of heated discussion in the critical debates of 1817 and 1818 over U.S. policy toward the Spanish-American wars as well as the arguments over the admission of Missouri as a state in 1820–1821 and the U.S. decision to participate in the ill-fated Congress of Panama. Although he earned the sobriquet of the "George Washington" of South America, Bolívar in victory became more conservative and critical of the democratic tide of the era. Unlike Washington, Bolívar was forced into exile, the victim of his own ambitions and the fears of others. In his tragic end, he symbolized the glorious warrior so consumed by his own ambition and hatreds that he was destroyed. In death, he became a cult figure whose life and meaning casts a long shadow over modern Venezuelan history. As the author convincingly explains, he remains the most relevant figure of the revolutionary age in the Americas.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742566552
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 167
Book Description
This compelling biography offers a unique perspective on the life and career of one of Latin America's most famous—and most adulated—historical figures. Departing from the conventional, narrow treatment of Bolívar's role in the Spanish-American wars of independence (1810–1825), leading historian Lester D. Langley frames this remarkable figure as the quintessential Venezuelan rebel, who by circumstance and sheer will rose to be the continent's most noted revolutionary and liberator. In the process, he became both a unifying and a divisive presence whose symbolic influence remains powerful even today. Twice Bolívar gained power, twice he confronted a formidable counterrevolution, twice he was compelled to flee. His ultimate tactic of using slave and mixed-race troops aroused both the admiration and fear of U.S. leaders and became a topic of heated discussion in the critical debates of 1817 and 1818 over U.S. policy toward the Spanish-American wars as well as the arguments over the admission of Missouri as a state in 1820–1821 and the U.S. decision to participate in the ill-fated Congress of Panama. Although he earned the sobriquet of the "George Washington" of South America, Bolívar in victory became more conservative and critical of the democratic tide of the era. Unlike Washington, Bolívar was forced into exile, the victim of his own ambitions and the fears of others. In his tragic end, he symbolized the glorious warrior so consumed by his own ambition and hatreds that he was destroyed. In death, he became a cult figure whose life and meaning casts a long shadow over modern Venezuelan history. As the author convincingly explains, he remains the most relevant figure of the revolutionary age in the Americas.