a novel, American Indians discover the Europeans
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Both specialists and general readers will enjoy this fine first novel by a professor of Native American studies at Cornell. Some, however, may be initially confused by the introduction, which claims the text is merely a translation of the diary of Diego Colon, adopted Indian son of Christopher Columbus. In fact, it is a highly imaginative re-creation chronicling Diego's disillusionment as the Spaniards commit atrocities against the Taino Indians (the island Arawaks inhabiting the Caribbean), who lived to regret their initial acceptance of the invaders and their religion. As Diego's diary begins in April 1532, a revolt led by the Taino Enriquillo has nearly paralyzed the island of Hispanola. The narrative blends Diego's memories of the Spaniards' first landing and subsequent brutalities with his account of the revolt, an actual historical event that ultimately led to the first treaty signed between a European power and an Indian nation. Passages of genuine beauty lighten the often grim recounting of events, and this absorbing narrative draws on scholarly knowledge about the Tainos to offer an uncompromisingly accurate portrait of indigenous Americans' lives during the years immediately following the Europeans' arrival.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Cornell scholar Barreiro's first novel focuses on the early history of Spanish conquest in the Caribbean, as told by a native serving as interpreter and intermediary during those years--a witness to the genocide against his people. Descended himself from the indigenous Ta¡no whose sad fate he details, the author makes use of a shadowy historical figure, Columbus's adopted Indian son Diego, as both a narrator and a participant in the events described. Fascinated by the Spanish when they first appeared, the boy Diego (``Guaik n'') stowed away on the flagship to learn all he could about them. Taken back to Spain with other, captured natives, he alone survived to return home, but was by then sickened by all that he had seen of the Europeans and their cruel, avaricious ways. Forty years later, charged by his European friend Bartolom‚ de Las Casas--the Spanish champion of Indian rights--to record his experiences so that posterity would know what happened to the Ta¡no, he writes what is in his heart. But his account is upsetting to Las Casas because of its relentlessly negative view of the Spaniards, who allowed Diego to live as a free man only to take his wife and sons from him in their greed, and who reduced a once thriving, peaceful culture to dwindling numbers of spiritless slaves and pockets of desperate freedom fighters. While busy with the memoir, Diego intercedes on behalf of the freedom fighters, using his contacts to trick Las Casas and ensure that peace is negotiated, although bitterness keeps him from a more direct role in the parley. A poignant debut about a pivotal moment in history--in which the rich native tradition receives vivid, sympathetic treatment. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An experience of enlightment in terms of the "Discovery",
By A Customer
This review is from: The Indian Chronicles (Hardcover)
Barreiro has done the History lover a favor by making this work possible for those of us who would like to look at the past in a more realistic sense. Of course, traditional History is important, but consider the untold stories that would be missed, like the Indian Chronicles, if all we concentrated on were eurocentric views of a non-euro world. Diego, a character as much modern as historical, finds himself caught between two worlds, the one of his Taino heritage, and the one of the new European world that came with Columbus. What is rather interesting about this book comes from the personalization of the disease, the evil, the corruptness, and the filth that came with civilization, referring to Europe's conquest of the "uncivilized" world. In our modern age, we may look at the past in a nostalgic yearning, but perhaps we should look back farther, as Diego said of his people, where the attitude of humanity was to see the seeds in rotten fruit, not just rotten fruit, or a view more nature oriented than gold oriented, or in our day and age, stocks and bonds oriented. In the Indian Chronicles, we see man's last effort, or one of them, at resistence towards mass assimilation and dehumanation through the eyes of Indian guerillas fighting a lost cause against the growing number of Castillas or incoming Spaniards, different kinds of animals, the type that would have slaves carry back-breaking quanitities of water to a sugar cane field and ignore the irrigation ditches that the natives, "uncivilized" natives, had built long ago, beating the slave for collapsing, while the answer is at his feet. Good book, good read, one of the best quite possibly.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a trip back in time with my people,
By
This review is from: The Indian Chronicles (Hardcover)
as i first opened the book and read the basis of where the data was aquired i was awestruck and knew that i was not only going to read this book but live it through the eyes of my parents and of their parents before them . you cannot help but feel the agony as diego recalls the events that he has witnessed throughout his life both those of curiousity for these strange men and the terror the and destruction they leave in their wake . but human beings from all races have in them an indomitable will to survive , and in this book you will witness that and say a prayer to whatever power you happen to believe in . Thank GOD .
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good book to read...,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Indian Chronicles (Hardcover)
I'm reading the book for the 2nd time. It's been years since I read it, too. I don't know, I guess I want to try to gain a better sense of it the second time around. So far, I still find the book to be a good read as it provides another point of view on the subject of the colonization of the islands by the Europians. I'm also getting a clearer sense of Christopher Columbus and the mentality of their world at the time. Frankly, we really haven't changed in this regard since that time. Many may think we have but the negative aspects introduced by the European culture still lives on in a healthy way. No, I don't believe we've moved an inch from that way of thinking. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in imagining the carribean of old. Ciao!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
