Open Veins of Latin America Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.

Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.

This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.

The classic survey of Latin America's social and cultural history, with a new introduction by Isabel Allende

Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx.

Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.

Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.
This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.

The US Empire, while masquerading as a force for good in the world, has enslaved much of humanity in the name of progress. At home, while its business elites have in turn enslaved the poor and underclass, the American rhetoric of freedom and democracy for all resounds.

In this controversial book, investigative journalist Matt Kennard takes us deep into the dark heart of American power. From the corporate state, the prison state and the state of our environment, to humanitarian intervention, the free trade fetish and the divide and rule of the working class, Empire Explained reveals how, no matter which side of the border we are on, we are all being conditioned to condone this modern form of slavery.

With The Racket, veteran investigative journalist Matt Kennard pulls back the curtain and reveals a much darker truth. The picture of America he paints is radically at odds with that noble image: through Kennard’s eyes we see another America, one that has lashed the world to a neoliberal vision and has rewarded wealthy elites at the expense of ordinary people, genuine freedom, and the global environment. Building his case from more than 2,000 interviews with officials, intellectuals, and artists around the world, including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, John Pilger, and Banksy, Kennard reveals how we are sold a dream and how that dream obscures the reality of the corporate state, mass incarceration, and the evisceration of human rights.

A ringing polemic that’s powerfully rooted in fact, The Racket is as sure to be controversial as it is to fan the flames of serious reform and revolt.

Praise for Irregular Army

“Kennard’s careful and judicious investigations reveal an aspect of the modern US military system that should be of deep concern to American citizens—and to everyone.”—Noam Chomsky

“Chilling. . . . Illuminating. . . . Kennard’s nonpartisan portrait of martial waywardness is foreboding.”—Publishers Weekly

Introduction

PART 1: HOW WE OWNED YOU

1. Creating a Modern-day Slave State

2. The Racket

3. Rigging the System

4. Cursing Your Riches

PART 2: ENFORCEMENT

5. The Mob

6. With Friends Like These

7. Might is Right

8. A Drug War Colony

9. War on Hope

PART 3: REINFORCEMENT

10. The First Peoples of America and Their Land

11. Working America

12. Destitute America

13. Lock-up America

PART 4: WE'RE LOSING YOU

14. Turf War

15. Freedom Fighters

16. Revolutionaries

17. Successful Defiance

18. Culture as a Weapon of Resistance