Barbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment (The Lamar Series in Western History) [Paperback]

Professor David J. Weber (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Lamar Series in Western History | Publication Date: August 15, 2006

This landmark book explores how Spain tried to come to terms with independent Indians on the frontiers of its American empire in the late 1700s.

"[An] important new book. . . . It displays . . . a mastery of the literature and impressive erudition; a capacity for the patient teasing out of the truth from sources that are often incomplete and partisan; and a lucid narrative style that carries the reader along. . . . A formidable achievement."—J. H. Elliott, New York Review of Books
 
"A stunning book that will be read for generations and lauded for its awesome research, judicious analysis, and graceful prose."—James Schofield Saeger, Lehigh University
 
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An important new book... It displays a mastery of the literature and impressive erudition; a capacity for the patient teasing out of the truth from sources that are often incomplete and partisan; and a lucid narrative style that carries the reader along... A formidable achievement." J. H. Elliott, New York Review of Books "A masterful synthesis that will serve as a necessary point of departure for historians working in different areas of frontier or borderlands history for many years to come." Cynthia Radding, Director, Latin American and Iberian Institute, University of New Mexico "A stunning book that will be read for generations and lauded for its awesome research, judicious analysis, and graceful prose." James Schofield Saeger, Lehigh University"

From the Publisher

"This is a pathbreaking, tightly organized, surefooted book. At last we have something solid and comparative in the field of colonial Latin American frontiers, and unincorporated Indians can never again be dismissed as unimportant to the story of Spain in America. The book is a pure delight."—Amy Turner Bushnell, The John Carter Brown Library

"A masterful synthesis that will serve as a necessary point of departure for historians working in different areas of frontier or borderlands history for many years to come."—Cynthia Radding, Director, Latin American and Iberian Institute, University of New Mexico

"A stunning book that will be read for generations and lauded for its awesome research, judicious analysis, and graceful prose."—James Schofield Saeger, Lehigh University "A lucidly written landmark study, packed with insight, patterns, regional and temporal specificity, and memorable voices. A key to much about Latin American history. Everyone who wants to write about the colonial period must reckon with this book."—William B. Taylor, University of California, Berkeley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (August 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300119917
• ISBN-13: 978-0300119916
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the complexity of Spanish colonialism in the Americas, February 23, 2006

By 

Timothy L. Amsden (Ramah, New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barbaros : Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment (Hardcover)

Although this is a masterly piece of scholastic writing by perhaps the pre-eminent historian of Spanish colonialism in the Americas, it is also a vivid read for the non-scholar (such as myself). If you believe that the Spanish relationship to the native people in their American colonies was a consistently brutal and usurious one, this book will give you an appreciation of how highly varied and sometimes very moral (in the morality of the day), it actually was, especially toward the end.

5 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars informative but poorly written, April 26, 2007

By 

DaLaoHu (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Barbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment (The Lamar Series in Western History) (Paperback)

I guess this is what passes for history these days. Make sure you pay homage to every point of view at every time and at every place, and never mind about organization. There's no doubt that Weber knows his subject, but come on, it's like he took all his notecards from a lifetime of research, shuffled them a few times, dropped them on the floor, and then wrote this book in the order that he picked them up. This book is all over the map, both figuratively and literally. I understand that all historical narrative is necessarily flawed, by point of view, cultural bias, etc., but hey, give me credit for having the intelligence to uncover these flaws myself. A work like this demands structure, which unfortunately this book does not have. I rate this book three stars only because there is a wealth of information in here. But be prepared to dig!