Customer Reviews

Blacks in Colonial Veracruz: Race, Ethnicity, and Regional Development

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Patrick Carroll's Blacks in Colonial Veracruz is an excellent and informative piece of social history. Carroll's real contribution is to situate Afro-Mexicans within the broader context of history and society. This is a very useful book for anyone interested in the intersection of economics, labour history, and social identities in Latin America. While I would not claim that the book is beyond criticism, I feel the negative review submitted by Mr. Ed(below)to be seriously misguided.

Snip snip, cut cut. That is the sound I picture Patrick Carroll having made as he considered which aspects of history to consider for this book and which to carefully avoid. Exaggerated are the ways in which the Spanish mistreated the Indians and almost ignored are the ways in which the Aztecs mistreated their fellow natives. One could almost guess from having read this that the Aztecs were a peaceful tribe who only wanted to coexist with the rest of humanity. Those who would make such a suggestion I would remind of the fact that the sides of the pyramids are black for a reason. That black is the stain of human blood!