Cover of Genesis

Genesis

Memoria del fuego seriesbook 1 of 3Next:Faces and Masks(1984) →

"From pre-Columbian creation myths and the first European voyages of discovery and conquest to the Age of Reagan, here is 'nothing less than a unified history of the Western Hemisphere... recounted in vivid prose.'"—The New Yorker

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A unique and epic history, Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy is an outstanding Latin American eye view of the making of the New World. From its first English language publication in 1985 it has been recognized as a classic of political engagement, original research, and literary form.

"Memory of Fire is devastating, triumphant... sure to scorch the sensibility of English-language readers." (New York Times)

"An epic work of literary creation... there could be no greater vindication of the wonders of the lands and people of Latin America than Memory of Fire." (Washington Post)

"[Memory of Fire] will reveal to you the meaning of the New World as it was, and of the world as we have it now." (Boston Globe)

"A book as fascinating as the history it relates.... Galeano is a satirist, realist, and historian, and... deserves mention alongside John Dos Passos, Bernard DeVoto, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez." (Los Angeles Times)

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 336 pages

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Liked Genesis? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Genesis. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now Shares Latin America, nonfiction, latin american
  2. Zapata and the Mexican Revolution Shares Latin America, nonfiction, latin american history
  3. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America Shares Latin America, nonfiction, history
  4. Looking for History: Dispatches from Latin America Shares Latin America, nonfiction, history

“People who read Genesis tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas
  2. Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings
  3. A Brief Life
  4. No Happy Ending: A Hector Belascoaran Shayne Detective Novel

“If you want more of the same (history about colonialism), start with these.”

  1. Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Colombia
  2. Children of Cain: Violence and the Violent in Latin America
  3. The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America
  4. My Colombian War: A Journey Through the Country I Left Behind

“If it was the Latin America that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Massacre at El Mozote
  2. Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America
  3. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America
  4. The Condor Years: How Pinochet And His Allies Brought Terrorism To Three Continents

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War: Civil War Poems
  2. The Best American Short Stories 2014
  3. The First Americans: Prehistory-1600 (A History of US, Book One)
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