Remedios: Stories of Earth and Iron from the History of Puertorriquenas

by Aurora Levins Morales

Full of medical folklore and healing tales, Remedios presents the history of the many women—and cultures—who have met at the crossroads of the islands of Puerto Rico. Beginning with the First Mother in sub-Saharan Africa more than 200,000 years ago, Aurora Levins Morales takes readers on a journey through time and around the globe. We learn of Juana de Asbaje, author of the "Reply to Sor Filotea" in 1693, the first feminist essay written in the New World; Gracia Nasi, Constantinople's "Queen of the Jews"; the African-American activist and warrior of words Ida B. Wells; and the unlikely martyr and symbol, Ethel Rosenberg. Levins Morales weaves in her own story of pain and healing, ameliorated by the restorative power of memory, and bears witness to a larger history of resistance and abuse by women and men. This historical memoir revives our connection to the forgotten lore of our grandmothers, featuring explanations of the medicinal properties of herbs and and foods such as rosemary, ginkgo, and banana. With love, joy, and defiance, Levins Morales offers Remedios as testimony to those barely recorded or known to his tory, the women who shaped our world. Aurora Levins Morales is author of Medicine History, Culture, and the Politics of Integrity (South End Press, 1998) and Getting Home Alive (Firebrand, 1986). A Jewish "red diaper baby" from the mountains of Puerto Rico, Morales writes lucidly about the complexities of social identity. She teaches at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. [box] Also available from South End Press Medicine History, Culture, and the Politics of Integrity TC $14.00, 0-89608-581-3 o CUSA DeColores Means All of Us TP $18.00, 0-89608-583-X o CUSA Loving in the War Years TP $17.00, 0-89608-626-7 o CUSA

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Gender Studies, Feminism, Anthropology, Plants

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Aurora Morales]

This book took me ten years to research and write. Its structure was inspired by both Susan Griffin' Woman and Nature, and Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy. I've written a little aboutmy research process in TheHistorian as Curandera, whicha ppears in my book, Medicine Stories.

[Stephanie McGarrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intensely personal and poetic whirlwind history of civilization. I don't usually get into books that are overly optimistic and life affirming, but much of this book is that in a Howard Zinn sort of way. Its easy enough to set that aside though. She paints dazzling portraits of peoples lives that put the larger painting into perspective.

Recommended if our interested in feminism, green anarchy, slave rebellion.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book beautiful but difficult. It was an emotional read. I encourage folks to stick with it to get rewarded with amazing writing.

[Erika Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes!
A spider web
plants, women, time, space
with the author's sense
of self and place
at the center.
So. Beautiful.

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first introduce to Levins-Morales' work in high school. She wrote a poem with her mother that was taught in a poetry/theater class that I was in. Really beautiful wordsmithing. I suppose I should also add that I'm a bit biased in my review--I met her through a mutual friend (she lives in Berkeley), so she gave me my copy of this book.

[X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pura medicina.

[Rio Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

DNF

Will continue working through this one in time. Beautiful concept and prose.

[Mariya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora Levins-Morales is a Puerto Rican-American writer and Ph.D. (in what, I can't remember) who wrote this book as a way of working through two major discoveries she made while in grad school: one, that the history of women as herbal healers, midwives and shamans is an academic gold mine which needs to find a more public voice, and two, she uncovered memories of having been ritually physically abused as a child by a religious group.

The book is constructed as a spiral fictional meta-narrative, one of the best and tightest examples of systematic writing I've ever read. She interweaves fictionalized historical accounts of women herbalists and witches, organized by region of the world and historical period (including pre-columbian americas and european and african cultures) with botanical descriptions of herbal remedies themselves and interlaces these with fragments of her own memory of trauma. I consider this book a complete original--I've not read anything like it before or since--and wish that I could go on the road plugging it on talk shows and the like.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora Levins-Morales traces the complex history of Puertorriquenas, including women of the Americas, Africa, and Europe. She details the ever-changing status of women in their own communities, the brutal history of slavery and colonialism and how various women resisted, were complacent, or both. In the style of Eduardo Galeano, the history is told in short vingettes, and Morales includes her own personal history as well, tying her struggles with abuse and recovery to oppression and liberation struggles worldwide.

[ayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read her work a layer of my self-doubt and self-blame shucks itself away

[Vivi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm digging the digging the author had to do to unearth the stories of many forgotten women, especially those featured only in footnotes of books discussing great uprisings and resistance movement from Puerto Rico and beyond. Loving the healing salve of plant medicine sprinkled throughout the book too, and the way she gives them life an honor.