[In this book, the author's] analysis of the effects and causes of capitalist underdevelopment in Latin America present [an] account of ... Latin American history. [The author] shows how foreign companies reaped huge profits through their operations in Latin America. He explains the politics of the Latin American bourgeoisies and their subservience to foreign powers, and how they interacted to create increasingly unequal capitalist societies in Latin America.-Back cover.

The classic survey of Latin America's social and cultural history, with a new introduction by Isabel Allende Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, 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 organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These 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. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably. This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.

Erudite, angry, sweeping in its scope, Open Veins of Latin America is a powerful survey of a continent's under-development and the role of foreign capital and national politics in that process. Eduardo Galeano traces Latin America's exploitation and impoverishment through the history of its principal commodities. Over five centuries, he explores the minerals and crops which have made a rich region poor, while building the fortunes of US and European transnationals. From the gold and silver sought by the Spanish conquistadores to the oil and copper extracted by present-day foreign corporations, Galeano presents a disturbing and fascinating picture of economic injustice. Blending historical fact with poetic imagery, Open Veins of Latin America is both an impassioned critique of transnational exploitation and a tribute to the passions of a plundered and suffering people. Isabel Allende's inspiring Foreword to this classic text testifies to Eduardo Galeano's status as one of Latin America's foremost writers.

“Nothing less than a unified history of the Western Hemisphere.” —The New Yorker From Guatemala to Rio de Janeiro, La Paz to New York City, Managua to Havana, Century of the Wind ties together the events and people—both large and small—that define the Americas. In hundreds of lyrical and vivid narratives, the final installment of Galeano’s indispensible trilogy sees the building of the Panama Canal, the disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples living over Colombia’s oil fields, the creation of Superman and the heyday of Faulkner, and coups and upheavals that cleaved an already fragmented continent. Galeano’s elegy moves year by year through the century of Castro, Picasso, and Reagan, blending the many voices and varying locales of North and South America and forming a history that is stunning in its scope and savage beauty.

The third of a three-part study of Latin American history, focusing on events and people of the twentieth century.

“An epic work of literary creation . . . There could be no greater vindication of the wonders of the lands and people of Latin America than Memory of Fire.” —The Washington Post Eduardo Galeano’s monumental three-volume retelling of the history of the New World begins with Genesis, a vast chain of legends sweeping from the birth of creation to the era of savage colonialism. Through lyrical prose and deep understanding, Galeano (author of the celebrated Open Veins of Latin America) recounts creation myths, pre-Columbian societies, and the brutality of conquest, from the Andes to the Great Plains. Galeano’s project to restore to history “breath, liberty, and the word” unfolds as a unique, powerful work of literature. This daring masterpiece sets the past free, weaving a new kind of history from mythology, silenced voices, and the clash of worlds. Genesis is the first book of the Memory of Fire trilogy, which continues with Faces and Masks and Century of the Wind.