Open Veins of Latin America: five centuries of the pillage of a continent
By Eduardo Galeano and Isabel Allende
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About this ebook
Since its US debut, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx.
Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organised the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Natural resources—such as gold, coffee, and copper—are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.
Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.
This classic is now further honoured by Isabel Allende’s inspiring introduction. Universally recognised as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015) was one of Latin America’s most distinguished writers. He was the author of the trilogy Memory of Fire, Open Veins of Latin America, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Days and Nights of Love and War, The Book of Embraces, Walking Words, Voices of Time, Upside Down, Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone, and Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History. Born in Montevideo, he lived in exile in Argentina and Spain for years before returning to Uruguay. His work has inspired popular and classical composers and playwrights from all over the world and has been translated into twenty-eight languages. He was the recipient of many international prizes, including the first Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom, the American Book Award, the Casa de las Américas Prize, and the First Distinguished Citizen of the region by the countries of Mercosur.
Read more from Eduardo Galeano
Soccer in Sun and Shadow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices of Time: A Life in Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Open Veins of Latin America
271 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Galeano is one of only 2 Uruguayan authors I have read (the other is Onetti). His trilogy Memory of Fire is one of the few non-fiction works that I have regularly recommended. The trilogy is a more or less complete history of America and it is organised as the most humane of narratives possible on a history that is far removed from humanity. This work is an earlier and more overtly polemical history of 5 centuries of the bloodletting of the Latin American continent almost unto death.Written in 1971 The Open Veins has become a classic among scholars of Latin American history and although it does not have the wonderful structure and narrative flow of the Memory of Fire trilogy it is an incredibly compelling read even for the non-historian. Galeano's gift has been honed over the years but his talent for engaging you with history shines even in this earlier work. Galeano has been compared favourably to Dos Passos and Marquez and that is not too high a praise.If you want to discover how a mythically rich continent can be reduced to penury read this book. If you want an insight as to how the IMF can enslave not just nations but whole continents read this book, What the hell - READ THIS BOOK.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a remarkable book. For the United States citizen it is a quick trip through the "other Ameican" history, and not the happy upbeat one usual from North of the Border, where in the end everything turns out well. Be;fraage's English translation is excellent and Allende's introduction to this edition.'
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5There was a reason that President Hugo Chávez chose this book to give as a present to President Obama (sending it from #54,295 to #2 in Amazon's sales in two days): if you care about Latin America and want to understand its people, this is the book to read. Two simple reasons: it goes into extraordinary depth of the people's history, and his writing style make him a joy to read. It affected my life as no other book has.