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The new Zapatistas in Chiapas have served as a catalyst for revolutionary indigenous movements across Mexico, pioneering a new model of resistance and posing a powerful threat to the stability of the North American Free Trade Agreement. While the masked Maya rebels of Chiapas have won some international media attention, the local struggles for land and autonomy throughout Mexico's Indian and campesino territories remain largely ignored—even as new, more radical guerrilla movements have emerged in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. In Homage to Chiapas, award-winning journalist Bill Weinberg provides a comprehensive account of the Zapatista rebellion from the uprising of January 1, 1994 to the present day, with numerous first-hand eyewitness accounts. 11 b/w photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Lots of information, needs an editor
This book is useful as a reference and a detailed chronicle. For the average reader, it is far too wordy. It needed a good editor. This book should be half the length it is. Sadly, the overall picture gets drowned in the details.

Required reading
This book is required reading for anyone interested in the effects of NAFTA and globalization in general. Weinberg is a responsible journalist whose work on this and other stories can be read daily on www.ww4report.com/blog

insightful
Bill does an extraordinary job depicting the Zapatista rebellion and the political scene.excellent corrolation between struggles in different states in Mexico and Cental and South America.

veracity and insight
This book ties together over 500 years of Mayan history and places the current conflict in its accurate historical and cultural setting. Unlike many of the current videos and some books that have been published on Chiapas and surrounding areas of Mexico since the Zapatista uprising, the author has done the extensive research needed to sort out a very complex conflict. I have traveled much in this area of the world and I immediately recognized the social and political landscape described within these pages. I cannot say this about all the books in the recent spate of Chiapas and Mayan scholarship.

I've followed Bill Weinberg's writing for years and have the highest regard for the veracity and insight of his work... ... Read more

Product Description
This examination of daily life in ancient Maya civilization presents the very latest discoveries and interpretations and corrects popular misconceptions. Based on the results of recent research from a variety of disciplines, it traces Maya civilization from its earliest beginnings to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century and shows how the Maya successfully adapted to their environment and preserved their traditional culture and languages from oppression over thousands of years. Archaeologist Sharer, one of the foremost experts on the Maya, offers unique insights into Maya civilization based on 30 years of living and working in Central America. Over 60 illustrations and photographs of Maya life, artifacts, and archaeological sites bring the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural aspects of Maya civilization to life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Everything you Need in One Book
I don't know whether Professor Sharer wrote this book to be a college textbook.It certainly can be used as one for an overall basic survey of Mayan civilization for the undergraduate.In case you were wondering, it is most definitely not of the "Daily Life in Ancient Rome" type of book that was so popular when I was a kid.This is adult stuff.

Not that the book is slow; on the contrary, it is generally good reading all the way through.It covers just about everything at least a little bit, and the bibliography leads you on to more detailed reference when you need it.It not only covers the sum total of the latest in Mayan archeology, but includes most of the anthropological data that Mayanists have found useful in their construction of Classic Mayan culture, as well as a brief but satisfactory review of Mayan writing.

The one thing I found unsatisfactory was Professor Sharer's need to grandstand on ecological issues whenever the topic could be conveniently inserted into the discussion at hand.While I generally agree with the ecological movement, I felt that it was out of place in this book.If that doesn't bother you, have at it - this book is the state of the art on what we know about the Maya.Of course, that will change in a couple of years, but by then a revised edition will be in order! ... Read more

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Over several centuries, the Xavante of Central Brazil have maintained an invincible sense of identity and feeling of control over historical processes, despite repeated invasions by colonists and settlers, capitalist commercial ventures, and most recently, an enormous government-sponsored agricultural project. In this discourse-centered study, Laura Graham explores how the Xavante use the ritual performance of myths and dreams to maintain their culture despite these disruptive forces. At the heart of the book is an extraordinary performance, in which a community elder tells his dream of an encounter with the creators. Graham analyzes the various components of his performance--narrative, myth-telling, song, and dance--and considers the entire community's participation in the preparations, rehearsal, and public performance of the dream, including their adaption to her presence and modern technologies. From this analysis, Graham demonstrates how the practice of myth-telling is an essential element in cultural continuity and the creation of social memory and how it also provides a kind of immortality for the myth-teller. Her findings will be of interest not only to students of South American cultures and linguistics but also to everyone intrigued by the role of myth and dreams in social life and social change. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The power of Song
"Performing Dreams" is a beautifully written and moving first-hand account of how the Xavante are sustaining their traditional cultures and finding ways to resist, co-opt and accommodate modernity through everyday talk, song, ritual and other practices. Students of folk music will be fascinated to witness the pervasive power of song in shaping the history, collective memory, worldview, and daily behavior of the Xavante people. One of the best ethnographies of Amazonia I have read...highly recommended.

Exceptionally powerful.
Creatively conceived and beautifully written.Besides a first rate contribution to linguistic anthropology and Amazonian studies, it's a great read.Check out the amazing musical transcriptions in the appendix. ... Read more

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An alternative and unorthodox view of the colonization of the Americas by Europeans is offered in this concise history. Eurocentric studies of the conquest of the Americas present colonization as a civilizing force for good, and the native populations as ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Very good, but with reservations
This is a dense but well-written and -researched work.It is simply invaluable as a thoughtful treatment of later Maya social structure, political interaction, and history.Even allowing for the passage of the greater part of a millenia between the collapse of Tikal and the conquest of Noj Peten, students of the Classical Maya will find a great deal to ponder in this work.

I must, in good conscience, voice some reservations.

The author appears to regard his sources as differentially-reliable.A single witness may be regarded as reliable one moment while speaking negatively of the Spaniards, but hopelessly biased and unreliable when speaking negatively of the Maya.In this context, the author particularly takes no account of the widespread antipathy between Spanish military and religious officials in the Americas, diplayed in many instances from the Mission Trail in Spanish Florida to Paraguay in South America (dramatized in the 1986 film 'The Mission').

The author is peculiarly intent on dismissing any evidence or allegation of cannibalism among the Maya -- even when the eyewitness source is Maya himself!He takes extraordinary pains to limit any perceived complicity in human sacrifice -- a very broad cultural phenomenon in Mesoamerica -- to "a very small number... the highest-ranking priests and nobility".Placing the hyperbole of some Spanish commentators into perspective is all very well, but Dr. Jones appears to be deliberately trying to blame -- or excuse -- the various parties for their cultural proclivities.

None of those present at the storming of Noj Peten(including missionaries and captured Maya leaders) claimed massive mortality among the Maya.However, Dr. Jones uses one obscure, cryptic statement by Ursua and some hyperbole from three men who each had cause to oppose Ursua (and who were not even present at the action), to postulate the existence of a massacre... which he thereafter treats as a proven, factual occurence.It would not be surprising if a massacre did occur -- but the evidence presented seems an uncommonly slender and broken reed, and Dr. Jones seems excessively eager to grasp it.

Please don't take my word for it, however -- read the book and decide for yourself, because even if my impression is correct and my criticisms valid, this work is not to be missed.

'The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom' is an essential resource for students of Maya history.Highly recommended... but read with discernment.

dry as dust
I can hardly believe that some of the other reviewers were reading the same book I was. I read a lot of history, and a lot on the Mayans, and was drooling over this book. But reading it was painful - it is SO dry, SO academic, that despite repeated attempts to continue I finally gave up on it.

This should be a movie.
I just finished reading "Conquest" and I must say that the story it tells has many classic elements to it. While author Grant Jones is concerned with getting all the facts, dates and listing of sources right, I found the drama behind his words more exciting.

The real story of Nojpeten, the last Maya kingdom to be conquered by the Spanish, is better than fiction. There are political machinations on both the Spanish and Maya sides. Unfortunately for the Maya, the political machinations on their side, namely that their king had essentially lost control of his kingdom, spelled their ultimate doom.

While it is not certain that, in the long run, the Spanish would've maintained their promises of not using force in terms of dealing with the area, attacks by Maya kingdoms adjacent to Nojpeten created the perception that the Maya were not to be trusted.

Overall, I found the information in this book very useful. I found it helped me understand the Maya as a real people, with family and political problems just as we do today. I'd say the only other book that does a better job of describing these elements (on a grander scale) is "Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings" by David Drew.

The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom
Dr. Grant Jones's book The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom is an excellently researched and well written piece.I had the pleasure of taking a course from Dr. Jones in which this book was used and I think thatits primary strength is that it is entertaining and gripping as well asinformative and educational. If you are interested in Mesoamerican history,you must read this book.

Spanish invaders destroy the last intact Maya Kingdom
I can't say that I have everhad the pleasure to read from beginning to end a more thoroughly and carefully researched work of archeo/historical significance which simultaneously succeeds in grabbingyour attention witha sense of paced suspense and drama.The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdomis based on records Jones painstakingly unearthed from 300+ year oldSpanish archives,. It really amounts to the rescue from time's decay of astory, too often repeated, of the directed destruction of an advancedindigenous people of the New World by European invaders, driven by theirgreed for wealth and power.Additionally, "Conquest" has greatrelevance to the present day.I find astonishing the uncanny historicalparallels between the current conflict over the construction of a road bythe Mexican Government into the Lacandon region of the Chiapas for themilitary suppression of a popular indigenous revolt, and the creation atgreat expense by the Spanish colonial government of Yucatan in 1697 of aroad from Campeche to Lago Peten Itza for the purposes of"reducing" the virtually uncontacted and intact Itza Maya kingdomthat ruled Peten and tens of thousands of Maya living there. TraditionalMaya custom is to view history as a series of cycles that repeat, soperhaps the parallels are to be expected. The"The Conquest of theLast Maya Kingdom" by Grant Jones, an anthropologist, sets force withremarkable detail and scholarship exactly what happened 300 hundred yearsago on the Yucatan peninsula, including a detailed examination of theforces and internal conflicts among both the Spanish and the Maya rulingelite regarding the construction of the road through previously unexploredjungle. Ostensibly it was to link the Yucatan with Guatemala, but Jonesmakes its clear that the introduction of an army into the Peten by theYucatecan government was the real intent of the road builders. Let's hopethat the outcome this time around will be more favorable to the Maya. Themilitary adventure 300 years ago, whose intent, hiding behind a complexscreen of religious motives, was to enslave the Maya as laborers on Spanishencomiendas, resulted in the swift and bloody deaths of thousands ofuncontacted Maya when the island where the King and the other Maya elitesruled was suddenly attacked by a Spanish galeota laden with soldiers andcannon. Most of the remainder of the Maya died through the introduction ofsmallpox and influenza and overall civil collapse, leaving the regionseverely depopulated for centuries. ... Read more

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The Maya
Palaces and pyramids of the rain forest

The author and editor Henri Stierlin has based his presentation of these most remarkable examples of Mayan architecture on the latest findings from excavations in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. Cities have been rediscovered in the depths of the rain forest, along with soaring pyramids, mysterious tombs, palaces with frescoes and steles. Particularly intriguing is the fact that, although this very advanced civilisation evolved completely separately from that of the "Old World", the architectural parallels are astonishing. Only very recently has it been possible to decipher Mayan hieroglyphics to any great extent. This new research is used to full advantage by this volume as a key to unlock the mystery of Mayan architecture.

The Author and Editor:
Henri Stierlin was born in Alexandria in 1928. In 1948 he published his first articles on art history and made numerous radio and television programmes on the history of civilisation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful Maya
This is basically a coffee table book.Nice pictures, easy text, not too deep.A good reference if you want to choose which Maya big spots you want to visit in your next vacation.It does suffer from not reflecting more recent advances on the interpretation on Maya history, such as the Toltec influence.But it is not apparently the objective of the book.This reviewer thinks that what the author wants is for you to get interested in the Maya civilization, to respond to the beauty and greatness of its art, to give to research and protection funds...All very commendable goals but perhaps a little too weak for the more historically minded.Yet, even this last one can have a fine time reviewing this book which is always a nice reminder of the places we saw, or want to visit someday. ... Read more

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A revered political, spiritual, and military leader, Sitting Bull was legendary for his stubbornness and battle prowess as head of the Lakota Sioux in the 1860s. His resistance of U.S. government encroachment onto Native lands and his fight to preserve Sioux culture inspired his people to do the same, culminating in the Battle of Little Bighorn. Despite his eventual surrender, Sitting Bull was one of the most influential figures in the history of U.S.-Native American relations. This accessible biography marks the first of several Native American volumes to come in the Greenwood Biographies series and is an essential supplement to any American history or Native American studies curricula.

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This reader summarizes and integrates information on the origins, historical development, and current situations of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. Legacy of Mesoamerica, The: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization, 2e describes contributions from the development of Mesoamerican Civilization through 20^th century societies of Mexico and Central America and their influence in the world community.

Customer Reviews (2)

Sucks...
This is pathetic... They sent the wrong edition, and of course I didn't notice until right before a test.It is a completely different book after the first chapter and is unusable.It isn't very respectful for companies to do this to poor college students.

Legacy of Mesoamerica
I received the book so fast and the condition of it was as described that i would recommeded to anyone! Good seller everything went smoothly. ... Read more

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The second installment of the life of the Nobel Peace prize-winning activist. Rigoberta Menchu is a worldwide symbol of courage in the continuing fight of indigenous peoples for justice. The Guatemalan Indian leader first came to the world's attention with the publication of her autobiography "I, Rigoberta Menchu" in 1984. The book chronicled the terrible hardship of her childhood in Guatemala, including the murder of her brother, father and mother at the hands of a ruthless military. But it also captured the dignity of Indian daily life in a cadence that was beautifully simple. "I, Rigoberta Menchu" has become an international bestseller with one million copies in print. In "Crossing Borders," Menchu picks up her story where the first volume left off. In 1981 she fled from Guatemala to Mexico City, deeply traumatized by the violence against her family and community. She resolved to dedicate her life to the Indian cause and painstakingly built a solidarity movement with the Indians living as outlaws in Guatemala's mountains. In 1988 she returned to Guatemala as a representative of the opposition in exile. She was immediately arrested and was released only after an international outcry. Danielle Mitterand and Desmond Tutu were amongst the leading names in an international campaign to secure the Nobel Peace Prize for Menchu which she was awarded in 1992. The long haul to build effective representation for indigenous peoples has taken Menchu around the world and its telling is a thread throughout this book. But "Crossing Borders" is more than an account of a political campaign. In these pages Menchu also talks with deep affection about her mother and the traditions of her Mayan background. In her introduction to "I, Rigoberta Menchu" the ethnologist Elizabeth Burgos Debray writes: 'Her voice is so heart-rendingly beautiful because it speaks to us of every facet of the life of a people and their oppressed culture. Her story is overwhelming because what she has to say is simple and true'. In "Crossing Borders" that story continues to enchant and inspire. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An importantbook
I'm sorry to hear the allegation that some people didn't receive the credit they deserved for the book; however, it'simportant to keep in mind that we're only hearing one side of the story from Arturo Arias' review.Moreover, even if one accepts the worst regarding what Arias is saying, it seems to me that if he was concerned about Menchu's message getting circulated, he would've noted the importance of "Crossing Borders" and not sabotage the book by focusing exclusively on this scandal.He could've recognized the importance of getting Menchu's words translated, and that "Crossing Borders" is a vital contribution to our knowledge of communities under assault from military forces, corporatists, and various extractive industries.Mayan Indians and oppressed indigenous people around the world can hardly afford to have their concerns ignored due to battles between academics.Hopefully, people will not let the tag of "intellectual theft" dissuade them from purchasing this book, which covers more pressing issues such as the on-going theft indigenous people experience on a massive and lethal scale.
If others deserve credit for the book, they should take it up with Verso and it can be remedied in future editions; but let's not commit another crime by ignoring "Crossing Borders" due to Arias' "review."With all the suffering of indigenous people, the efforts of David Stoll to dismiss "I, Rigoberta" and Arias' review to dismiss "Crossing Borders" seem a bit misplaced.They're the sorts of smears one would expect from the Pentagon's psy-ops personnel, PR firms like the Rendon Group, or the Guatemalan military.
Regarding the "Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People" that Menchu discusses in the book, "Cultural Survival" magazine is an excellent resource for keeping current on the development and effects of that document. www.cs.org

Another important resource regarding Rigoberta Menchu and the struggles of indigenous people is the DVD, "When the Mountains Tremble."There may exist some circumstance that would enable Stoll or Arias to dismiss this award-winning film, but hopefully they'll find better things to do.

Ann Wright stole the work of Dante Liano and Gianni Minna
A message from Arturo Arias

Dear Central Americanists:

I utilizethis network to inform you of a recent intellectual theft suffered by thedistinguished Guatemalan writer Dante Liano, presently teaching at theUniversity of Milan (despite his name, he is not Italian). Dante is an oldfriend of Rigoberta Menchu, and along with Italian journalist Gianni Minna,decided with her to write her second book. They play the role played byElizabeth Burgos in the first, with the added touch that it was all donewith Rigoberta's complicity, unlike what happened in the first book. In theSpanish edition, titled "Rigoberta: La nieta de los mayas" it isexplicit that the book is "por Rigoberta Menchu, con la colaboracionde Dante Liano y Gianni Mina." There is a prologue by Gianni Minaexplaining their collaboration, and a small section called"agradecimientos" by Rigoberta herself, in which she thanksexplicitly Dante Liano "Especialmente para respetar o al menosacomodar correctamente el uso de las reglas literarias en el idiomaespanol. Hicimos con Dante Liano un enorme esfuerzo para conciliar lamanera de vivir, pensar, entender y expresar un gran pedazo de mi vida enQ'iche... algo muy grande que nos ayudo para que la lluvia de palabrasculminara en una meta, fue el hecho de que nacimos en una misma tierra,compartimos las mismas raices y nuestros suenos atraviesan los mismoscaminos" (26). However, in the English edition recently published byVerso, neither Mina'swork nor Liano's is recognized at all. If you look atthe edition, the translator, Ann Wright, speaks as if she was thecompilator, takes credit for the work, and nowhere at all mentions the workof either Liano or Minna. I quote a private message from Liano:

Porejemplo, mientras estaba en Chicago me entere (a traves de Beverley) que ellibro de Rigoberta habia salido sin mi nombre ni el de Mina. Fuimos conRaul a comprar el libro y casi caigo muerto cuando, al revisarlo, comprobeque no solo no estabamos en la portada, como el contrato decia, sino que noestabamos absolutamente por ninguna parte. Borrados. La traductora, lasenyora Ann Wright, tiene el tupe de echarse un prologo para explicar sus"dificultades" (!) para traducir y para transcribir el texto,comosi lo hubiera hecho ella. Me basto darle una ojeada para darme cuentaqueera una vil traduccion de lo que yo habia redactado. Lo unico que hicieronfue hacer un montaje diferente. Al llegar aqui puse a Gianni Mina enconocimiento del asunto y este monto en colera... Rigoberta dice que a ellano le consultaron ningun cambio y que, en efecto, ella se atiene alcontrato.

This is intellectual theft, pure and simple, from both AnnWright and Verso, making invisible the efforts of a major Guatemalan writerand a close friend and collaborator of Rigoberta's, against her own will.Please circulate this information as much as possible throughout yournetworks, so that the intellectual world becomes aware of this act ofpiracy and discredits both Verso and Ann Wright.

Arturo Arias ... Read more

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What Abercrombie gives us is an understanding of how people in an Andean community shape, rethink, and reshape their past.Gary Urton, author of The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the InkasPathways of Memory and Power crosses the disciplinary boundary where anthropology and history meet, exploring the cultural frontier of the colonial and postcolonial Andes. Thomas A. Abercrombie uses his fieldwork in the Aymara community of Santa Barbara de Culta, Bolivia, as a starting point for his ambitious examination of the relations between European forms of historical consciousness and indigenous Andean ways of understanding the past. Writing in an inviting first-person narrative style, Abercrombie confronts the ethics of fieldwork by comparing ethnographic experience to the power-laden contexts that produce historical sources.Making clear the early and deep intermingling of practices and world views among Spaniards and Andeans, Christians and non-Christians, Abercrombie critiques both the romanticist tendency to regard Andean culture as still separate from and resistant to European influences, and the melodramatic view that all indigenous practices have been obliterated by colonial and national elites. He challenges prejudices that, from colonial days to the present, have seen Andean historical knowledge only in mythic narratives or narratives of personal experience. Bringing an ethnographers approach to historiography, he shows how complex Andean rituals that hybridize European and indigenous traditionssuch as libation dedications and llama sacrifices held on saints day festivalsare in fact potent evidence of social memory in the community.A groundbreaking and important contribution to Andean anthropology and history. Among Abercrombies aims is bridging the gap between writing and non-writing peoples by confronting history with ethnohistory, and confronting written ethnohistory with the oral traditions and ritual practices through which Kultas themselves remember their past.Florencia E. Mallon, University of WisconsinMadisonA major theoretical, ethnographic, and historical contribution to Andean studies. It could well become a classic.Paul Gelles, University of CaliforniaRiverside

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fantastic research, albeit somewhat unorthodox, by author's own admission. Very interesting views of Aymara daily / ritual life.
I am grateful for the 'fully embedded' approach the author took in giving us this journalistic view of the Aymara people.A U.S. citizen, I lived in Bolivia for the nine years prior to the authors work--his fieldwork beginning in nineteen seventy-nine.

The book is systematically divided into three categories.The first is the author's narrative as he first approach the Aymara peoples.This section glosses over the details and instead lets us come to know the author, his expressed motives, and the technical, and sometimes physical hurtles, he encountered as he began the process of embedding himself.

The second section is a detailed account of the whole of the written histories as viewed from the colonialist and Catholic Church records.These go back as early as the sixteenth century and help to paint one aspect of the memory of the Aymara.

The third section uncovers the clandestine rituals and public and private festivals and their importance in serving as mnemonic methods of recalling oral tradition--Aymara versions of "what really happened" and their relation through timespace to pacha (universe).

This book has given me welcomed insight needed to fill in the blanks in my own comprehension of the rituals and customs that surrounded me as a young boy.His work is meticulously documented, and his helpful glossary of Aymara terms rounds out the great research.The book paints a very beautiful but sometimes unsettling picture of the Aymara culture.

Excellent read on indigenous world-views
Two important elements of social "habit memory" processes strike me in Pathways of Memory and Power.The first is the apparent ease with which the colonial power asserted its program for "social amnesia" through a physical restructuring of social space (rectilinear, functional living spatial constructions) and time (the marking of Church calendrical and daily time, basically obliterating indigenous conceptions of time).The second is the reinterpretation of public and private to suit a colonial "moral code" based on the ritual performances of excessive drinking and bloodletting.These systematic, institutionalized policies effectively dismantled the indians' social habit-memories-replacing them with new ones modeled on Castilian life.

The long-standing issue of religious syncretism is (thankfully) questioned, through an understanding of how the indigenous people create distinctions between the "more Christian" and "more Andean" aspects of their deities and religions.The quipu system of knotting preserves a physical remembering which was transformed, but not destroyed, by Christianity. As Abercrombie states, "the techniques may have remained the same, but the content, the memories, were changing" (p. 260).The "imagenes de bulto," which were introduced by colonial priests, replaced the indigenous idols with Catholic saints, and initiated a long process of revisionist iconography for the indians from one source to another.The llama, as an animal that closely (to the indians) resembled humans in their social interactions, acted as a replacement for the human sacrificial victim; this helped ease the sacrificial rituals into a more acceptable Christian realm of possibilities.The origin myth, with its "multiple, not unique" origins was contentious; although re-reading and appropriating the Christ-like image of Tunupa, and the "great flood" and "tower of Babel" stories, led to a deeper understanding by colonial powers in the religion of their subjugated workers.

The historical grounding in colonial documents led to a deeper, richer, fuller picture of present-day ethnography.I think this method serves to illuminate so many elements in everyday life that seem otherwise "meaningless" or where pre-literate peoples have not developed a "linear" sense of history, as their colonizers encouraged.The ability to recreate, from historical documents, a more complete view of indigenous concepts about space, time, self, and history, is invaluable.It strikes me as a process of reading "through" (not between) the lines of the colonial texts-into the minds of the colonizers-in a way that is instructive in both the development of colonial systems for creation of dominant ideologies, and how the indigenous people actual recreated their colonizers through an adaptation of their habit-memories into a new (world) context. ... Read more

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Noble David Cook explains, in vivid detail and sweeping scope, how the conquest of the New World was achieved by a handful of Europeans--not by the sword, but by deadly disease. The Aztec and Inca empires with their teeming millions were destroyed by a few hundred Europeans whose most important weapons, though the conquerors did not realize it at the time, were diseases previously unknown in the Americas. The end result of the colonizing experience in the Americas, whether of the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English, or French, was the collapse of native society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Very well done.
What role did disease play in shaping the conquest of the New World.This book accounts for more than just the Aztec invasion but covers the Caribbean and South America as well. It is very well written and takes an interesting look at the epidemiology of the region.For those interested in either the imperial conquests of Spain or the development of epidemiology this is a great book. Cook writes very well and in most places his epidemiological accounts are well supported.

WORST DISEASE OUTBREAK EVER
From discovery in 1492 to the mid 17th Century, the Americas were hit with one outbreak of infectious disease after another.Cook describes waves of smallpox, typhus, measles and influenza that killed off a continent of people.He is almost certainly right that these plagues destroyed more than the Spanish.Unfortunately he is unable to give any precise figures, or even anything close to it, as to how many actually perished.We can be confident, though, that this was the worst disease outbreak ever.

A masterful summary
This is simply the best account of the depopulation of Spanish America in the sixteenth century. It deals with the range of diseases involved, the regional death rates, the native responses, and the arguments pro and contra the high estimates of death.

Thorough and Scholarly Study of Crucial Issue
This is a very thorough and well organized study of one of the most important and ghastly events in human history.In the century following the European discovery of the Americas, approximately 90% of the native population perished.The agents of this demographic and cultural catastrophe were an apparently unceasing series of epidemics transmitted by European and African immigrants to the Western Hemisphere.Isolated for millenia from the Western Hemisphere, the native peoples of the Americas were virgin soil for smallpox, plague, influenza, measles, and a wide range of other serious infections.Native American susceptibility to epidemic disease and not any technological or cultural advantage was the key factor allowing Europeans to conquer the Americas. The conquest of Western Hemisphere and European dominance of its resources resulted in a huge economic and ecological windfall for European states.This windfall was a key factor propelling the global dominance of European culture and states.
Cook does an excellent job of systematically surveying the various epidemics and their demographic impacts.This is difficult because of the need to cover an extended period of time, a broad variety of regions, and the fragmentary nature of the data.This book is an excellent summary of available knowledge on this important topic.Very organized and written competently, this book will be the standard reference on this topic.

It shocks in its gritty realism yet keeps you interested
An excellent account of the history of the Americas, it focuses on the diseases while keeping in touch with both the cruelty suffered by the natives and the culture shock. It goes deeper into the less dramatic side (where less writers dwell in) and makes this a must read for anyone interested in the period. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Exhaustive and well written
A reworking of Grandin's dissertation, "The Blood of Guatemala" refers to the both the national/ethnic/racial identities that defined Guatemala throughout its history and also the literal blood that flowed during the 30 year civil war in which the most repressive state in the hemisphere slaughtered two hundred thousand of its citizens.

The narrative centers on Mayan elites of the town of Quetzaltenango (a place name that will probably give trouble to any English-based spell checking program) in the western highlands of Guatemala. It tells the history of the indigenous people, the Spanish conquerors and the Ladino bourgeoisie through the centuries by highlighting several key events: a demonstration in 1784 against state monopoly of liquor production that gave three Spaniards control of much of the economic life and police power in the area, a demonstration that became a riot that almost turned into an insurrection; the 1837 cholera epidemic, part of the world-wide spread of that disease, and the way it was handled and mishandled by national government; and the rise of coffee capitalism and the creation of an export economy based on plantations in the lowlands.

Grandin does an excellent job with a complicated set of subjects that include caste, class and national identity and a changing array of ethnic classifications depending on who was in power (who was doing the classifying and who it benefited) at various times.

Recommended for those with some knowledge of the history of Guatemala. An understanding of how historians and ethnographers work and some familiarity with academic prose generally would be helpful but not essential to profit from this book

PhDs only need apply
I appreciated this book for the insights it was able to give me on a city that I will soon visit, but I found the writing style dry and overburdened with unnecessary details. Several times, I fell asleep trying to make it through the reading. Other times, I would lower the book in exasperation and say to myself, "Is this Grandin's dissertation?" The book is very informative, but it is not an accessible read for the layperson.

Interesting, microscopic, but skewed
Grandin's research on the Quiche Mayans of Quetzaltennago is exhaustive and well presented.In particular, his central thesis that the Quiches were a social body already divided by the time of the 1954 US-backed coup helps break schismatic thinking regarding the history of the 36 year civil war there that defines the Indians as merely the victims of a violent and complex historical legacy.That said, however, I often found myself asking if the ladinos in the city were similarly divided.Grandin does make some suggestive remarks in this area, but his focus on the Indians of Xela reveals, perhaps, a bias he holds in their favor.Moreover, the book attempts to use the city of Quetzaltenango as a microcosm of the national situation, which for the most part does not follow since the Indians of other highland townships are very different from those of Xela (and even from one another).Finally, I have to mention that Grandin subscribes to currently fashionable theoretical terms (which comes into relief when he talks about the Mayan "body" in his chapter on the cholera epidemic) that may or may not do justice to the social and cultural dynamic he encounters. Overall I would say this is a book worthy of reading despite lacunae in his otherwise critical approach.

brilliant and imaginative
"Anyone interested in Latin American history will enjoy this myth-and-stereotype-shattering study of Mayan cultural and national identity.Thick with novelistic detail and anecdote, brilliantly and imaginatively researched, totally engrossing in its melding of convincinganalysis and strong narrative sweep, Grandin takes us to a 'high place' andguides us back over the tangled, treacherous paths that led there" ... Read more

Product Description
"At midnight on Tuesday, some desconocidos [unknown men]arrived in a [yellow] pickup.They went to the house of Mario Puzul,jefe of the group [of commissioners].They broke into his house andtook him by force of arms to the car.His wife says that herecognized the jefe of the group and said, 'Buenas noches, mylieutenant,' but the lieutenant didn't answer.Mario said good-bye tohis wife and his brother, Francisco.The car left and the uproarbegan, ringing the bells and the people gathering.But there wasnothing they could do.

"On 16 November 1985, a military commissioner was killed.They saythat many people saw it.They took the military commissioner out ofhis house and then to the corredor [porch] of the municipality, wherethey hacked him into pieces with a machete and left him."

This is the story of Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan, a Maya Indian who resideson the shores of beautiful Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.The storynarrates Ignacio's life, town, and country during the 1980s, a periodwhen many campesinos found themselves caught between two fires--theinsurgency of the guerrillas and the counterinsurgency of the army.Meanwhile Ignacio and his fellow townspeople attempted to maintain asmuch normalcy in their lives as possible.They cultivated their beanand corn fields, educated their children, and practiced either folkCatholicism (a blend of Catholic and Mayan beliefs and practices) orevangelical Protestantism. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic in its field, The Conquest of America is a study of cultural confrontation in the New World, with implications far beyond sixteenth-century America. The book offers an original interpretation of both Columbus's discovery of America and the Spaniards' subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Using sixteenth-century sources, the distinguished French writer and critic Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs, adversaries in a clash of cultures that resulted in the near extermination of Mesoamerica's Indian population. A new foreword by Anthony Pagden discusses the implications of Todorov's landmark study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

wow~
The book comes earlier than the estimated time , and it's exactly what I see from the website. Nice experience with Amazon!

Literary Criticism
Don't buy this book, unless you are heavily interested in literary theory, linguistics and/or semiotics.This is not a history book nor a book on history, but rather a linguistic and literary interpretation of some accounts of the conquest of America.Further, the book is biased.It does not discuss the truth of the matters asserted in the early conquest accounts and there is barely any criticism and analysis of the reliability of those sources.Get instead a Prescott if you want to know what the conquest was all about.

A brief recommendation
Previous reviewers have been relatively thorough therefore I don't have much of value to add.
Suffice to say that this is one of the best books I've ever read.
For any student of human behavior I say it's a "must read" ...on many levels.

Conquistador Mythology
Tvetan Todorov's The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other perpetuates a number of the myths that surround the Spanish collision with the "New World".

Todorov reinforces the myth that the Aztecs believed the Spanish were gods, an idea that springs from the accounts of Diaz and from the earliest Indian accounts, all which were written over 30 years after the described events, by people without access to the inner workings of the Mexican court.The Indian accounts, written under Catholic supervision, do not relate to the "what happened" as much as they do to the "what should have happened."These Indians would not have known what happened and would have been well-versed in the accounts of their Spanish masters.The idea that Montezuma thought they were gods seems to be a good way for the Indians to explain what they did not understand.

Mistranslations of Indian words also account for this myth.Teotl, mistranslated by the Spanish to mean "god", more closely means "weird" or "strange".Todorov relies heavily on this myth to advance his thesis of miscommunication.

Todorov also falls into the trap of believing that the Aztecs were frozen by their obsession with signs and with astrology.He believes that the Aztecs were dominated by a past-oriented tradition whereas the Spanish were the only participants able to adapt.He argues that the Spanish use of written words gave them an ability that the oral-tradition based Aztecs did not.Reality, however, suggests that the Aztecs were very good at improvisation, especially during battle.Within the first few encounters with their Spanish enemies, the Aztecs learned how to beat horseman, how to avoid being hit by cannons, and that the Spanish were not impressed with tactics designed to frighten and demoralize the enemy.

Montezuma's lack of quick action does not mean he was frozen with fear, or that he was waiting for signs from his astrologers, instead it seems to be exactly what how a man who could put tens of thousands of soldiers in the field would react to a small party of Spanish.His gifts to the Spanish were not symbolic of his wishing to buy their friendship, but were a statement of Montezuma's power and wealth.

Todorov's book is important because it raises issues about how the self discovers the other.But it's advancement of outdated myths cannot be ignored.

Columbus and the Making of the Savage Other
In The Conquest of America Todorov delves deeply into the dark consequences (intended and unintended) of the European discovery of the Americas and represents the first important study of the influence of religious belief on the interactions beginning with Columbus with the "savage" Other. While many people attempt to dismiss the religious aspect of this relationship, but as Todorov shows it is central to understanding the dynamics of European conquest and the ultimate fate of the "New World's" indigenous inhabitants. Both in his letters and his diary Christopher Columbus repeatedly expresses his primary purpose as a religious one. Perhaps, due to the obvious problems for the Catholic Church that this represents this motive has taken a backseat to the supposed thirst for gold that has overshadowed the religious roots of this horrific tragedy ever since.

An important aspect of Todorov's thesis is his well-supported claim that it was precisely the claim to European racial superiority that the Christianity strongly reinforced[es] provided justification for the actions of the Spanish, even in its most severe manifestation. In fact, Todorov invokes the unimaginably horrible image of Catholic priests bashing Indian baby's heads against rocks, ostensibly to save them from damnation to Hell, which their "savage" culture would have otherwise consigned them to.
The logic of this deed and other like them illustrates the pernicious influence of Christianity in the Colonial project, which lies at the root of the hegemonic self-image of Western experience-first defined from the perspective of Columbus and Cortez.

If religion was a guiding principle in the lives of the conquerors, as Todorov points out, so to was it for the conquered, especially in the case of the Aztecs. Baffled by the paradox of the famous story concerning Cortez and his several hundred Conquistador's ability to defeat the entire Aztec empire, which numbered at least several million, Todorov reveals that it was primarily due to Montezuma's belief that Cortez and his party was Gods, which led to his reluctance to raise an army in opposition. In the middle section of the book Todorov gives a detailed analysis of this stunning historic event and shows that Cortez' victory was not necessarily due to any great military achievement, instead it was mostly the result of the Aztec's refusal to mount any kind of a effective defense until it was too late. Thus, it was Montezuma's indecision, born of his own religious belief that led to the sudden collapse of the Aztec empire.

In the final third of the book Todorov investigates the impact that these events have had on the subsequent writings on the subject. In particular, he focuses on the work of three writers, all Spanish, but among the first generations of Europeans native to South America. These works that are primarily only known to scholars in the field offer many surprises to the contemporary reader, showing that there was a far more open view of the non-European "Other" expressed by those who lived among them in the waning days after conquest. Perhaps, that is one of the most insidious luxuries of victory-the ability to show compassion for the defeated, but always, yet always too late.

Todorov's work is an important work, which would be of great interest to students of literature, history, cultural/indigenous studies and post-colonial theory. After reading this book Columbus Day and all that it necessarily represents will never be seen in the same way again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Follow-Up of an Earlier Book, with Minor Yet Accumulating Flaws.
In 1976 Ivan Van Sertima published They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. 22 years later in 1998, "Early America Revisited" was "fueled out of an anger at the dishonesty of my critics and an overwhelming desire to set the record straight." It sheds new light on numerous evidence of pre-Columbian ocean crossings. (He also edited African Presence in Early America in 1987.) As such, he also answers directly back at specific critics, even including correspondence and an interview with him in the appendix, which gets a bit repetitive and may not be everybody's cup of tea.

I read the 2007 paperback edition. I am not really enthused about the quality of the pictures, though I have seen worse. Additionally, according to one caption, some pictures may be seen in color. Obviously in other editions. Which is a bit sad, since especially one such picture represents an ancient Egyptian definition of phenotypes. Not only by skin color, but also by facial features (as in principle, it is a bit gamy to draw skin color conclusions from Egyptian paintings as they may represent symbolic religious meanings instead of phenotype).

In other words, this book isn't only about Africans in the Americas, but about Black Africans in Egypt. It is mentioned that civilization began in Nubia, with the first pharaoh being a Nubian one.

Van Sertima avers that Ancient Egyptian isn't a Semitic language, but an African one. However, there are other African centrist scientists who say, Semitic languages ARE African, in fact that Arabic is derived from ancient Egyptian. The Africans Who Wrote the Bible suggests that all belonged to the African group of peoples, together called the Akan, today mostly known in West Africa. The VERY unorthodox author Ralph Ellis suggests that the Hyksos weren't invaders, but inherently Egyptians after a religious schism. He has written an entire series about that, starting with Jesus: Last of the Pharoahs. (In one of his later books, though, he re-turns them into migrants after all.) Last not least concerning my criticism, I would like to mention that I don't really comprehend Van Sertima's division of pre-Columbian Blacks in the Americas from the Native Americans. To me, that is defeating the cause. Whenever they had come, most certainly they integrated into the Native Americans, unseparable.

However, most of the book is excellent, in a five star manner.

A word on the unrelenting deniers of pre-Columbian contacts: I find it funny that for decades they disputed any claims of Black phenotypes among the Olmec stone heads etc. Now, when this and other arguments have been lost to the general public in favor of Van Sertima & partners in mind, they turn around and claim: Yes, they were Black, but they were coming from Asia. What exactly is the decisive difference, from which direction the Africans came? (Not to leave the impression that any one way excludes the other.) Taking into account that African presence in early Asia had been denied as sick. Talking of which: Van Sertima co-edited African Presence in Early Asia and edited African Presence in Early Europe (Journal of African Civilizations). By now, there are numerous scientists/authors who have written about pre-Columbian voyages to the Americas, including to and from Europe. Next time of losing the debate, the anti-Africanists will probably claim: Yes, they were Black, but they were really Europeans.

Do I need to mention, that we are ALL Africans, because we are all derived from Africa, some of us merely having turned pale(r) along the way? And that the entire humanity completely remixes in less than 2 millennia?

For those interested in further books about pre-Columbian voyages to the Americas should check out the even more controversial The Lost Treasure of King Juba: The Evidence of Africans in America before Columbus, Voyages of the Pyramid Builders: The True Origins of the Pyramids from Lost Egypt to Ancient America and in the German language the very recommendable Bevor Kolumbus kam which doesn't limit itself to African voyages, but EVERYBODY'S. It would be easier to list who DIDN'T travel to the Americas before Columbus came last (which is similar to yet another book's title). Fascinatingly, there is this much evidence around that the intersection of identical evidence used in these various books is very slim. As such, it gets ever more uncomprehendable that some people, however fewer they may get, undeterred keep up the torch for Columbus being the first. He himself denied that. Period.

A Review of Van Sertima's three books on the Olmecs
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RULKDRJFMPSY0 This video is a rebuttal to some of the claims made by Van Sertima (and Clyde Winters on the side) but primarily Van Sertima in his three books, They Came before Columbus, Early America Revisited, and African Presence in Early America (Which he co-authored with other hyperdiffusionists and afrocentrics). I read all three to get a better grasp of what was being claimed. Neither Van Sertima or his contributors are primary researchers. None studied archaeology, linguistics or anthropology to any degree to claim expertise in the subject. In fact what they do is comb other people's research and/or writings in search of any quotes they can use to support their theiories. They are both known for using outdated, refuted, and even misquoted studies and to ignore statements in later studies or even IN THE SAME STUDY or the SAME AUTHOR which categorically rebutt these Pseudo Historian's claims.

Since the first migrations across the Beringian coastal regions, archaeological and anthropological evidence has spoken of a population that migrated from Asia and would be the founders, not only of modern Native Americans, but also of modern Asians. As Asia has shown diversity that spans from Australian Aborigines and Melanesians to South Asians to the Siberian Yupik. These same phenotypes have been reflected in Native American morphology. Since the first studies of ancient skulls like Peñon woman and Luzia we have seen a morphological continuity that spans many phenotypes and is still in existence today. Olmecs show this variety of phenotypes in their sculptures. Excavations in nearby Tlatilco have shown similarity in phenotype to modern Native Americans as well. In all excavations sundadont and sinodont populations have been found and neither of these dental patterns exist in African populations that means they developed in populations that had already migrated out of Africa, and could not exist in either Egyptian or Mande populations. Since Luzia and Peñon woman to the extinct Pericu, and the modern Huichol, Fuegians, Botocudos, Xingu, Moche and others, the thick lips and features seen in Olmec sculpture and modern Native populations have always been there. They are not an import from another continent but direct descendants of the earliest Paleolithic people on the Asian continent who migrated to the Americas. Olmecs were products of the Americas.

A better version of this video exists in the reviews for Van Sertima's paperback version of"They came before Columbus". I uploaded a smaller flv file her but the other one is a better quality wmv file.

Excellent Scholarship
Dr. Van Sertima delivers again.I highly recommend to all -- from the serious scholar to the simply curious.

Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, A SCHOLAR'S SCHOLAR
Ivan Van Sertima is one of the greatest minds living today, despite the fact that, at an early age he lost half of his brain.Van Sertima clearly destroyed all of his critics in this book, in every individual circumstance.If you are of fan of his first book on this subject, "They came before Columbus," or you have never heard of Ivan Van Sertima, you will deeply be convincedthat "BLACK'S WERE CO-CONTRIBUTERS TO THE BEGGINNING OF THE ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATION."This book verifies this by rituals, customs, and many other things, too lengthy to be said here.In the end, when reading, blacks open your eyes and ears to the information presented, and objective whites, "LOOK AT THEEVIDENCE,NOT THE COLOR OF THE PEOPLE WICH THIS BOOKS TRIES TO GIVE CREDIT."

Van Sertima Responds to his Critics
In the l970's Ivan Van Sertima came out with his ground breaking book "They Came Before Columbus." In this book he put forward the theory that Africans came to America before Columbus and the "European Age of Exploration" in two major waves. The first wave was when the Egyptian/Phoencians crossed the Atlantic between 1200B.C-800B.C this wave influenced the "Mother Culture" in the Americas known as the Olmec Culture.The birth of pyramid culture and the African phenotypes found in the colossal stone heads bear witness to their arrival.
The Second Wave of Africans who came to America before Columbus were the Mandingos of Mali who set sail under the guidance of their king Abu Bakari the brother of the famous Mansa Musa. Abu Bakari set sail with a fleet of 2000 ships. This story is recorded in the rare Arab works "Al-Qalqashandi" and "Masalik el absar fir Mamelik el Amsar" this exploration took place around 1310A.D.Many scholars rallied to attack Van Sertima for his unconventional theories. Out of all the scholars who attacked "They Came Before Columbus" three stand out they are Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, Warren Barbour, and Gabrial Haslip-Viera. Those interested in purchasing the book "Early America" be warned it is not a new version of "They Came Before Columbus." Early America was written as a response to critizism leveled against They Came Before Columbus.

Van Sertima is very technical and meticulous in his book Early America, no stone is left unturned. In order to prove Africans made contact with the Americas before Columbus he provides many examples there are too many to mention here in this brief review, so I will touch on two or three. He has Bart Jordan a mathmatician and child prodigy of Einstein show us the mathmatical parallels between pyramids in America and those in Egypt. He also elaborates on the botanical evidence of South American cocaine found in African mummies made famous by the toxicologist Dr. Balabanova, New World crops found in the Old World before Columbus is only possible if contact was made between Africans and Americans. He also highlights African/Egyptian rituals that originated in Africa but are strangely enough found in America. We have the Egyptian "opening of the mouth" ceromony found on a wall painting in a cave at Juxtlahuaca. There is also the cross libation ritual found in a Mexican Codex this ritual is definitely Egyptian in origin all scholars know that the Gods Thoth and Horus always baptised the Pharoah with cross libations. The Egyptian use of the leopard skin(animal skin) in ritual is also found in Mexico as well as the double crown worn by the Pharoahs with the bird and snake the bird representing Upper Egypt and the Snake representing Lower Egypt. The mythos of bird attacking snake is an African mythos based on indigenous African animals like the Secretary Bird of Africa a famous snake killer one can see the parallel between this and the Mexican god Quetzacoatl when broken down linguistically Quetzacoatl means bird and snake.
Ivan Van Sertima is one of those rare underappreciated scholars whose work is too advanced for its time. Van Sertima's scholarship will only be acknowledged in another lifetime by another generation of scholars much like Copernicus and Galileo followers of Van Sertima's theories will find out that convention is hard to change. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It turns you upside down
Lori A. Colomeda has come up with a book which challenges *oureuro-centred* mind. She's the kind of person you wish to do the studies shedoes: compassionate and scientific at the same time. Environmental andwomen's health have never been brought together as in this book. RachelCarson looked at mainland America, Lori Colomeda's focus goes a bit furtherup North, but nonetheless, she tells us as horrific stories as RachelCarson did way back in 1962. ... Read more