Born In Blood And Fire Summary

The history of Latin America is a very challenging and difficult subject to retell. It is the most chaotic, by far and is not easily understood. The textbook Born in blood and Fire: A concise history of Latin America by John Charles Chasteen does a wonderful job of retelling important events in Latin history. From when the indigenous people were attacked and oppressed by the Europeans; to the more recent events, all is captured in this textbook. The use of concise in the title ultimately does not accurately describe what this textbook does. This text scratches the surface of the real issues in Latin American history but does not help the reader take the next step in understanding it. The UNC scholar falls flat in organizing the mess that is Latin American history but does an admirable job in setting up readers for more advance text

It starts with the interactions of indigenous people and early European settlers. From the start the people of Latin America were oppressed. You will notice quickly that this is a common theme throughout the history of Latin America. Throughout each country’s history, many radical leaders and their respective political movements are mentioned. Struggles with the Europeans and eventually themselves are also mentioned. Every part was well thought out, but it provides no real insight on underlying issues. This textbook scratches the surface on some great ideas on information on some ways that these colonies were governed. Patriarchy was dominate but there were others like Hegemony. The text could have gone into more detail on reasons why all Latin countries seem to have the same governing systems. Finally the textbook discusses how these colonies gain independence and how they are governed after they gain that independence. The electing of Evo Morales being something to highlight because this was the first indigenous president of