Barbaros : Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment [Hardcover]

David J. Weber (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Lamar Series in Western History | Publication Date: September 11, 2005

Two centuries after Cortés and Pizarro seized the Aztec and Inca empires, Spain’s conquest of America remained unfinished. Indians retained control over most of the lands in Spain’s American empire. Mounted on horseback, savvy about European ways, and often possessing firearms, independent Indians continued to find new ways to resist subjugation by Spanish soldiers and conversion by Spanish missionaries.

In this panoramic study, David J. Weber explains how late eighteenthcentury Spanish administrators tried to fashion a more enlightened policy toward the people they called bárbaros, or “savages.” Even Spain’s most powerful monarchs failed, however, to enforce a consistent, well-reasoned policy toward Indians. At one extreme, powerful independent Indians forced Spaniards to seek peace, acknowledge autonomous tribal governments, and recognize the existence of tribal lands, fulfilling the Crown’s oft-stated wish to use “gentle” means in dealing with Indians. At the other extreme the Crown abandoned its principles, authorizing bloody wars on Indians when Spanish officers believed they could defeat them. Power, says Weber, more than the power of ideas, determined how Spaniards treated “savages” in the Age of Enlightenment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

(Amy Turner Bushnell )

"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

(James Schofield Saeger )

“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

(William B. Taylor )

“David J. Weber … has written a magisterial study of Spain’s relations with [the] Bárbaros . . . . Weber’s book is a masterful work by a master craftsman.”—Christopher Vecsey, H-Net Reviews

(Christopher Vecsey H-Net Reviews )

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1St Edition edition (September 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300105010
• ISBN-13: 978-0300105018
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,679 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!