America, América
A New History of the New World from the Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- £14.99
Publisher Description
'An original and outstanding new history of the New World... Magisterial' Spectator
'An extraordinarily ambitious book . . . America, América reads at times as the historical equivalent of the great epic novels of Gabriel García Márquez' Irish Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE
The first definitive history of the Western hemisphere, a sweeping five-century narrative of North and South America that redefines our understanding of both continents - perfect for readers of How the World Made the West.
The story of the United States’ unique sense of itself was forged facing south – no less than Latin America’s was indelibly stamped by the looming colossus to the north.
In this stunningly original reinterpretation of the New World, Professor Greg Grandin reveals how the Americas emerged from constant, turbulent engagement with each other, shedding new light on well-known historical figures like Bartolomé de las Casas, Simón Bolívar and Woodrow Wilson, as well as lesser-known actors such as the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda, who almost lost his head in the French Revolution and conspired with Alexander Hamilton to free America from Spain.
America, América traverses half a millennium, from the Spanish Conquest – the greatest mortality event in human history – through the eighteenth-century wars for independence and the Monroe Doctrine, to the coups and revolutions of the twentieth century. This monumental work of scholarship fundamentally changes our understanding of Spanish and English colonialism, slavery and racism, the rise of universal humanism, and the role of social democracy in staving off authoritarian impulses.
At once comprehensive and accessible, America, América shows how the United States and Latin America together shaped the laws, institutions, and ideals that govern the modern world. Drawing on a vast array of sources, and told with authority and flair, this is a genuinely new history of the New World.
‘Compelling and written with zest…Don’t be surprised if he wins another Pulitzer’ Financial Times
'Dazzling. Mind-altering. World-changing. A once-in-a-generation contribution' NAOMI KLEIN
'Sweeping and provocative... groundbreaking' AMITAV GHOSH
'Will transform your understanding of the modern world' JONATHAN KENNEDY
'Masterful and erudite yet absolutely riveting' ADA FERRER
'A major and desperately needed synthesis of the Americas' NED BLACKHAWK
'An awe-inspiring masterpiece' SAMUEL MOYN
* Professor Greg Grandin won the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction in 2020 with his book The End of the Myth. America, América has been shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize and is a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The histories of North and South America have been shaped by the continents' relationship to one another, according to this scintillating study. Pulitzer winner Grandin (The End of the Myth) traces the Americas' intercontinental feedback loop from the colonial period—when Spain and Portugal goaded England's imperial ambitions with reports of bloodthirsty conquest—through the revolutionary period, when Spain and England each funded revolts in the other's colonies. As independence was won, the two continents' paths significantly diverged, Grandin writes, when South American statesman Simon Bolivar rejected the "expansionist" U.S. model of democracy as a continuation of Europe's "doctrine of conquest." Bolivar instead called for redistribution of land to Indigenous people—an ultimately half-completed project that Grandin notes nevertheless inspired some politicians in the North to reconceptualize democracy, leading to the yo-yoing between "boots-on-the-ground invasions" and nascent planning for "a system of international law" that characterized U.S. foreign policy by the early 20th century. This tension came to a head, according to Grandin, when Woodrow Wilson backed a democratic socialist faction in the Mexican Revolution, prompting U.S. elites to stage a backlash so severe that U.S. policy toward Latin America has remained antileftist ever since. The Americas, Grandin perceptively concludes, have spent centuries "battling over how to justify dominion," with philosophies of imperialism and democracy flourishing side by side. It's a monumental new view of the New World.
