Date: 12 Oct 91 08:21 PDT
From: ecosystems@igc.org
Subject: Re: books on Christopher Columbus
Message-ID: <1563600049@igc.org>

Please make note of message #4 in this conference, which I repeat
here for your convenience:

=============
Regarding "Columbus 500" in 1992, one of the most important
source documents on the Spanish conquest of the Americas is
apparently out of print:

- By: Fray Bartolome de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, 1474-1566:
- In English: "The Devastation of the Indies -- A Brief Account"
  (translated from "Tratados I" (c) 1965, Fondo de Cultura
  Economica, Mexico).
- In Spanish: "Brevissima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias"

Written in 1542 by de las Casas, the book is a little-known
first-hand account of the massacre of the Native Americans by the
Spanish conquistadores. It tells in stunning and unpleasant
detail the savagery of the Spanish in their lust for gold and
fortune. As we near the 500th anniversary of the Columbus voyage
("discovery" of America), this book could serve a useful purpose
to remind us of the not so benign underpinnings of our culture.
The history books are woefully silent on this genocide which may
have exceeded Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin combined,
even in the first few decades of the conquest.

Needless to say, the book may not be particularly welcomed in the
USA. In Latin America, apparently only Mexico has sufficient
confidence in its native heritage to continue to publish this
story. Even there, I just learned today, it is out of print. Of
course,  I have a copy. My copy, in English, was published by the
Seabury Press in NYC, which went out of business 9 years ago. It
has also been available in Spanish from "Porrua" (a publishing
house in Mexico City). It may still be available as a portion of
a multi-volume hard-cover set of de las Casa's works in Spanish
published by Fondo de Cultura Economica in Mexico.

It would seem most important, if not urgent, for this short book
to be published cheaply and distributed widely over the next
year. I would like to know if it is available anywhere in
English or Spanish. Do you know anyone who might publish it? Is there
some way I can assist in seeing it published again?

Thanks!
Ron Swenson, EcoSystems, Inc.
econet:ecosystems
voice:408-425-8523 fax:408-425-8533
matter xfer: Box 7080, Santa Cruz CA 95061 USA

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From: kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!marc (Marc Becker)
Subject: books on Christopher Columbus
Message-ID: <01GBJP9F6S2S004C7C@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 1991 20:27:00 GMT

Original-Sender: kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!marc (Marc Becker)

Original-Subject: Re: Letter to Dick Estelle,...

A easy (high school reading level) book on Columbus is Hans Koning,
Columbus: HIs Enterprise, Exploding the Myth (Monthly Review Press, 1976,
1991).  It's kind of elementary and concentrates on Columbus to the
exclusion of indigenous voices, but it does give a good counterpart
to the pro-Columbus views of the current PBS Columbus and the Age of
Discovery show.  The first chapter of Howard Zinn's A People's
History of the United States is also a good though quick critique
of pro-Columbus attitudes.  The Report on the Americas (available
from NACLA, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 454, New YOrk, NY 10115) is
also doing a series on the Quincentennial.  I received their current
issue today and it is on environmental impacts of the European conquest.
There next issue (dec, i think) is on Native Peoples of the Americas
and I think it should be real good.

Keep your eyes open.  A lot of stuff will be coming out over the
course of the next year.  There will be a lot of trash (like the
PBS series) but some real good stuff will also come out.

Marc Becker