Notes & Links: 'Open Veins of Latin America'

We wrapped up our 2020 discussions by diving into Eduardo Galeano's seminal work, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent.

First published in 1971, this book provides a detailed history of conquest and resource removal and the profound effects on the lives of the native populations and their descendants.

Many books, articles, and films came up for further exploration during our discussion. These include the following.

Books and Articles:

• "Author Changes His Mind on '70s Manifesto" (The New York Times, 5/23/14)

• The work of Andre Gunder Frank, such as Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America and World Accumulation

• First World, Ha Ha Ha!: The Zapatista Challenge, edited by Elaine Katzenberger (from our 2014 discussions)

• The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes (mentioned by Galeano and from our reading list in 2012)

• Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo by Bernal Diaz del Castillo

• On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

• The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

Films:

• Children of the Amazon (Our group member Ingrid worked on this documentary!)

• Eyes Wide Open: A Journey through Today's South America

• The Official Story (1985)

• Our Disappeared

• Roma (2018)

• Salt of the Earth (1954)

• State of Siege (1972)

Audio:

• "Eduardo Galeano Contemplates History's Paradoxes" (NPR, 2009)

Art:

• "The art show of 2020 and how it unearthed the Mexican influences on American Art" by Carolina Miranda (Los Angeles Times, 12/10/20). About this year's Whitney Museum exhibit, "Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945."

Other recommended reads from our participants:

• Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel

• The Shock of the New: The Hundred Year History of Modern Art--Its Rise, Its Dazzling Achievement, Its Fall by Robert Hughes

• The Shock of the New (1990 BBC documentary presented by art critic Robert Hughes)

• Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump