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The Resource Silver, sword, and stone : three crucibles in the Latin American story, Marie Arana

Silver, sword, and stone : three crucibles in the Latin American story, Marie Arana

Creator
Author
Summary
"Against the background of a thousand years of vivid history, acclaimed writer Marie Arana tells the timely and timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). 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 Albo 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 Silver, Sword, and Stone 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. What emerges is a vibrant portrait of a people whose lives are increasingly intertwined with our own"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Extent
477 pages
Isbn
9781501104244
Instance
Label
Silver, sword, and stone : three crucibles in the Latin American story
Title
Silver, sword, and stone
Title remainder
three crucibles in the Latin American story
Statement of responsibility
Marie Arana
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Against the background of a thousand years of vivid history, acclaimed writer Marie Arana tells the timely and timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). 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 Albo 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 Silver, Sword, and Stone 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. What emerges is a vibrant portrait of a people whose lives are increasingly intertwined with our own"--
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Arana, Marie
Dewey number
  • 980
  • 920.08
Illustrations
maps
Index
index present
LC call number
F1407
LC item number
.A685 2019
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Gonzales, Leonor
  • Buergos, Carlos
  • Albó, Xavier
  • Latin America
  • Latin America
Target audience
adult
Label
Silver, sword, and stone : three crucibles in the Latin American story, Marie Arana
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bar code
  • 31223122816078
  • 31223122816086
  • 31223122816060
  • 31223122816045
  • 31223122816052
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Extent
477 pages
Isbn
9781501104244
Lccn
2018057093
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
maps
System control number
(OCoLC)1056741888
Label
Silver, sword, and stone : three crucibles in the Latin American story, Marie Arana
Publication
Copyright
Bar code
  • 31223122816078
  • 31223122816086
  • 31223122816060
  • 31223122816045
  • 31223122816052
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Extent
477 pages
Isbn
9781501104244
Lccn
2018057093
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
maps
System control number
(OCoLC)1056741888

Subject

Genre

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