The Shark and the Sardines

by Juan José Arévalo, June Cobb (Translator), Raul Osegueda (Translator)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: History

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

Reviews

[Marco Pavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best history book i have ever read - Arevalo reconstruction of the imperial role played by the United States (the shark) over the twenty Latin America republics (the sardines) is monumental: precise, linear and always straight to the point. This book should be taught in schools...

[Natalie]

Arévalo paints the picture of the 'American' Empire through multiple political situations of Latin America. I found it really important to read, and certainly eye-opening. We often hear the term 'military-industrial complex', but I think this book details it where it's impossible not to see the corruption. Even going back to the 1800s, the U.S. has always been largely operated by those on Wall Street. We decide whether or not to go to war based on the economic benefits. (Hint: it's always profitable). The U.S.'s paternalism has done irreversible damage to the development of Latin American countries, and the abuse of their natural resources has never been repaid.

The author's tone at times was extremely tongue-in-cheek, but I didn't mind that so much as its redundancy. Large chunks of this was Arévalo rehashing the same thing over and over again using different metaphors that could've been cut. It is hard to detect sarcasm when he says it, but he repeatedly used the phrase that went something like 'we inherited the Spanish sentimentality', and it was just odd. Still, undeniably important for understanding Latin America's historical relationship to the United States.