New Found World

by Katherine Binney Shippen, C.B. Falls (Illustrator)

A young person's history of Latin America, covering the Aztec, the Mayan and the Inca civilizations, the Conquistadors, the search for El Dorado, the coming of Christianity, and the struggle for independence of the colonial powers.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Juvenile

262 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

history teacher, museum curator, and children's writer.

Reviews

[Thomas Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this book is a brief, mostly accurate, history of Latin America (Mexico, Central America and South America).

I found quite a bit of it fairly interesting, like the war of the Triple Alliance (near-death of Paraguay) that I never knew about. I also found some of it ignorant and racist (like how it really wasn't in the Native's blood to know how to live in a modern world). And it became a little bit politicized at the end. For example the Alliance for Progress had successful PR, but it was never expected to be a success by anyone besides JFK cronies because JFK thought that South Americans would think just like he did and because the budget was not even close to large enough. However, the author seems to think it was the bright hope for South America.

And about that... the book won a Newbery honor in 1946. The Alliance for Progress was initiated in 1961. Yeah. Turns out the author added a few pieces here and there, including the entire final chapter, to the book since the original publication (and award) just like the Van Loom family did to The Story of Mankind. Personally, I don't think a kid's book should be changed (and politicized) after winning an award.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read because it was a Newbery honor title. I was expecting to cringe the whole way through because of the way the subject was handled, but it wasn't nearly so bad as I expected. There are (currently) better and more politically correct histories of Central and South America, of course, but this one at least didn't have me wanting to scream because of the author's treatment of these cultures. Also, this is still infinitely better than The Story of Mankind.

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This older history Newbery does have a fair bit to offer. I learned quite a bit about South American and Central American history that is not addressed at all in the U.S. school system. You'll plainly see the vibrant, sophisticated societies and cities that existed before Portuguese and Spanish explorers/exploiters purposefully destroyed them.

This book covers hundreds of years and dozens of societies (and then modern countries) in its scope, so any one battle is going to get cursory attention. You'll need to find micro-histories on those if you want full coverage there.

You'll gain a better picture of why Central/South American countries have not yet been on an equal playing field with the political giants in the world of the past 50 years and have had continuing internal political struggles.

That all said, I would skip the entire last chapter. In the whole of the book, Dabiri has an un-racist approach, not sparing any facts about despicable European behavior - although some patriarchal speech patterns are present. In the final chapter, though she displays some good ol' boys Euro-centric Manifest Destiny type attitude regarding God's goodness in bringing progress to the Americas. That part is quite off-putting on several counts. Take that chapter away, and I'd go up to 3.6 stars.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good: written in a conversational, but narrator-absent, tone. The topic, Latin and South America, was one I haven't seen covered like this, and it was engaging for the most part.

The bad:
It's easy to judge colonialism now, but really they meant well and just didn't know that stripping a country of its resources and enslaving its people wouldn't be helpful long term. Who could predict? Fortunately, with the support of the good old U.S.A., the Indians and Negros can probably be guided to better themselves and taught democracy. As it was written in 1950, the hope for the future as it was worded here, with the U.S. involvement and education leading to democracy in a linear fashion, rang false. But the author can be forgiven for not foreseeing all of those entanglements.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Honestly, I only skimmed this. It's not horrible, but it is dated. The author isn't completely insensitive to the native peoples, but does have the opinion that the coming of the Europeans (and Christianity) was the best thing that happened. The annihilation of the Arawak people (due to disease and slavery) a mere decade after Columbus 'discovered' them is covered in just a couple lines. I pretty much lost interest after that. Of course the acquisition of Texas and President Monroe get a fair amount of coverage too. But apparently not much happened in the first 45 years of the 20th c. I read this for my 2019 Reading Challenge and my Newbery Challenge (Honor Book, 1946).

[Desiree']

1946 Newbery honor book

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd title since the author starts off with describing the places and people who lived in mesa and north America before being 'found'. I would look at a more recently written history.