Open Veins of Latin America
 | |
| Author | Eduardo Galeano |
|---|---|
| Original title | Las venas abiertas de América Latina |
| Translator | Cedric Belfrage |
| Country | Uruguay |
| Language | Spanish |
| Subject | History of Latin America |
| Publisher | Monthly Review Press |
Publication date | 1971 |
Published in English | 1973 (1st edition) 1997 (25th Anv. edition) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | xiii, 317 p. |
| ISBN | 978-0-85345-990-3 |
| OCLC | 37820142 |
| 330.98 21 | |
| LC Class | HC125 .G25313 1997 |
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (in Spanish: Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina) is a book written by Uruguayan journalist, writer and poet Eduardo Galeano, and published in 1971.
Summary
In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region.
The Library Journal review stated, "Well written and passionately stated, this is an intellectually honest and valuable study."[1]
In 2014, at an event honoring him on the 43rd anniversary of the book's publication, Galeano said he no longer felt so connected to it. He said he was not sorry he had written it, but he had lacked the necessary development to write a book on political economy at that stage and criticized the language he had used as "extremely boring".[2]
Background
Open Veins of Latin America was written by Eduardo Galeano in Uruguay in 1971. During this period Galeano was working as a journalist, editing books, and was employed in the publishing department of the University of the Republic. Galeano states that "it took four years of researching and collecting the information I needed, and some 90 nights to write the book".[3] Shortly after the publishing of Open Veins of Latin America, in 1973, a military junta took power in Uruguay forcing Galeano into exile. As a result of the book's left-wing perspective it was banned under the right-wing military governments of Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.[4]
Cultural and political significance
In the foreword for the 1997 edition, Isabel Allende stated that "after the military coup of 1973 I could not take much with me: some clothes, family pictures, a small bag of dirt from my garden, and two books: an old edition of the Odes by Pablo Neruda and the book with the yellow cover, Las venas abiertas de América Latina".[5]
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez gave United States President Barack Obama a Spanish copy of Open Veins of Latin America as a gift at the 5th Summit of the Americas in 2009.[6][7][8][9] As a result of this international exposure, the book's sales are reported to have risen sharply—it was the 54,295th most popular book on Amazon.com on one day, but it moved to #2 on the list a day later.[10][11]
The author himself, however, repudiated the book many years later in 2014, saying that at that time, he "was not qualified to tackle the subject and that it was badly written." He added: “I wouldn’t be capable of reading this book again; I’d keel over. For me, this prose of the traditional left is extremely leaden, and my physique can’t tolerate it.”[12]
References
- ^ "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ "Galeano: "Eu não seria capaz de ler de novo 'As Veias Abertas…', cairia desmaiado" CartaCapital". CartaCapital. 2014-04-14. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
- ^ "Writer Without Borders" July 14, 2006 In These Times
- ^ "Fresh Off Worldwide Attention for Joining Obama's Book Collection, Uruguayan Author Eduardo Galeano Returns with "Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone"". Democracynow.org. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ Allende, Isabel. Foreword. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Galeano, Eduardo (1997) [First published 1971]. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (PDF) (25th anniversary ed.). Monthly Review Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-85345-990-8.
- ^ "Obama fields press, gifts in first 100 days". Washington Times. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ "Chavez presents Obama with a gift". BBC News. 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ "Chavez, Clinton discuss possible normalization of diplomatic relations". Xinhua. 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama may not read book gift, Associated Press, 2009
- ^ "Sales Soar of Book Chavez Gave Obama". ABC News. 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ "Amazon.com Bestsellers: The most popular items in Book". Amazon.com. 2009-04-19. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
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