Silver, Sword, and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story

by Marie Arana

Winner, American Library Association Booklist’s Top of the List, 2019 Adult Nonfiction

Longlisted for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence

Against the background of a thousand years of vivid history, acclaimed writer Marie Arana tells the timely and timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region : exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone).

Leonor Gonzales lives in a tiny community perched 18,000 feet above sea level in the Andean cordillera of Peru, the highest human habitation on earth. Like her late husband, she works the gold mines much as the Indians were forced to do at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Illiteracy, malnutrition, and disease reign as they did five hundred years ago. And now, just as then, a miner’s survival depends on a vast global market whose fluctuations are controlled in faraway places.

Carlos Buergos is a Cuban who fought in the civil war in Angola and now lives in a quiet community outside New Orleans. He was among hundreds of criminals Cuba expelled to the US in 1980. His story echoes the violence that has coursed through the Americas since before Columbus to the crushing savagery of the Spanish Conquest, and from 19th- and 20th-century wars and revolutions to the military crackdowns that convulse Latin America to this day.

Xavier Albó is a Jesuit priest from Barcelona who emigrated to Bolivia, where he works among the indigenous people. He considers himself an Indian in head and heart and, for this, is well known in his adopted country. Although his aim is to learn rather than proselytize, he is an inheritor of a checkered past, where priests marched alongside conquistadors, converting the natives to Christianity, often forcibly, in the effort to win the New World. Ever since, the Catholic Church has played a central role in the political life of Latin America—sometimes for good, sometimes not.

In Silver, Sword, and Stone Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained propensity to violence, and the abiding power of religion. What emerges is a vibrant portrait of a people whose lives are increasingly intertwined with our own.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, World History, Anthropology, Travel, Audiobook

496 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2019

About the author

She was born in Peru, moved to the United States at the age of 9, did her B.A. in Russian at Northwestern University, her M.A. in linguistics at Hong Kong University, a certificate of scholarship at Yale University in China, and began her career in book publishing, where she was vice president and senior editor at Harcourt Brace and Simon & Schuster. For more than a decade she was the editor in chief of "Book World", the book review section of The Washington Post. Currently, she is a Writer at Large for The Washington Post. She is married to Jonathan Yardley, the Post's chief book critic, and has two children, Lalo Walsh and Adam Ward.

Reviews

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars - Is there a unique Latin American character?

This question, posed by a beloved aunt, was the motivation for Marie Arana’s Silver, Sword, and Stone (SSS). Arana identified three themes that she believes have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches (i.e. “silver”), an ingrained propensity to violence (the “sword”), and the abiding power of religion (represented by “stone”).

Arana explained explicitly that SSS was not a comprehensive history, and she’s neither an academic nor a historian. These caveats are important to note upfront because you will be massively dissatisfied if you had expected otherwise. As a memoirist, Arana has cherry-picked significant time periods out of 600-plus years of history in the Americas, with a focus on these three aspects, and doing so with the goal of defining the Latin American character. To make the narrative more modern and relatable, she also incorporated the present-day stories of three individuals, one for each of her thematic elements.

Arana included maps of pre-Columbian and modern Latin American. They were helpful, but I would also have appreciated an abbreviated timeline of key rulers, conquistadors, and events to help ground me because Arana treated time in a very fluid manner. There is not a strong chronological explanation because of her thematic focus, so the material was at times repetitive and not easy to follow especially as she leap-frogged across different countries. I had considered quitting the book after the first two chapters and then thought that I would at least read the first section, which was on silver. I did finish the entire book, however, because I felt that for a sense of completeness, I should read a book from the perspective of the conquered. My schools had already taught me history lessons from the victors' perspective.

After reading several events - such as Pizarro’s capture of the Lord Inca Atahualpa and of the atrocities perpetrated on the Taino people - the level of brutality and inhumane cruelty gave me horrible deja vu of the Nanking Massacre. Many Japanese soldiers reflected later in life that they couldn’t explain why they had committed such brutal acts, but that they were serving their Emperor, who had the status of a god. According to my school history lessons, Spain’s conquest of the New World was also in service to Crown and Church (Catholic). But in SSS, it was evident that the Spanish conquistadors were motivated by rampant, personal avarice, underpinned by a belief that extreme violence was necessary. Claiming it all for Crown and Church was just the glib lip service that was necessary to continue receiving official royal sanction. Although Columbus Day is still an American federal holiday, I’m grateful that many cities and states have instead changed the holiday to be Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Christopher Columbus is not a person who needs to be glorified for rampant pillaging and enslavement one moment longer.

In terms of more modern history, Arana mentioned Operation Condor, which took place from 1968 to 1989. Funded by the US, this project involved six South American nations engaging in a concerted effort to torture and eliminate Communists, Socialists, and all those opposed to the existing military juntas in power. This international action contributed to the new identifier - “el desaparecido” - the disappeared.

I definitely had to work at learning the Latin American history for Arana had written an information dense book. I have visited the Iberian peninsula and four countries in South America totaling a span of 6 weeks over the course of several years. I’m not an expert, especially since my Spanish-speaking ability is limited to half-remembered high school Spanish. From the vast art collections in the Prado to the exceedingly grand marble architecture in Madrid, it was indisputable that Spain once had a period of extreme prosperity. Remnants of faded glory were visible in the architecture of Montevideo, Uruguay, which mirrored Madrid's on a scaled-down basis. Decimation of indigenous population in Argentina was reinforced by abbreviated history told by local guides. The sense of a non-industrialized economy in Peru and the terror levied by Shining Path were made clear in my talks with my college-educated tour guides.

The ultimate question is - am I convinced by Arana’s narrative for a common Latin American character? I am in complete agreement with her thesis for the entirety of the Spanish colonial history. But as I read SSS, I thought that surely a lot of Arana’s thesis could also apply to African countries given the extractive-basis of their economies and the common history of violence. Her third theme of stone / religion did not, however, appear applicable to African countries as many European countries had colonized Africa and Catholicism was not the predominantly shared religion.

So my remaining question is whether her analysis seemed relevant today, as she tried to convince readers by incorporating the stories of a Peruvian miner, a Cuban ex-prisoner, and a Catholic priest serving in Bolivia. I looked up some statistics on mining of gold, silver, and copper. Since 2010, ores have been mined in significant quantities (when measured on a global scale) from Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Mexico and Peru remain the top 2 silver sources while Chile and Peru are the top 2 sources of copper in the world. Many Latin American economies today are not heavily industrialized, with the exceptions of Brazil (former Portuguese colony) and Mexico. So in regards to “silver,” if it’s broadened to encompass all extractive-based economic activities (including agriculture and people for labor), then maybe Arana's premise still applies to such a large swath of territory. Not all, but several Latin American countries do have very violent episodes involving drug cartels, but many countries are now democracies. Once independence from Spain had been gained in the 1800s, Catholicism had lessened its hold as it had mutated to incorporate pre-Columbian religious beliefs that were no longer suppressed. For now, I can accept Arana's thesis for Latin America, primarily because of the absence of alternative explanations, which is a weak justification. Arana's narrative was too general and thus not compelling enough for her thesis to be perfectly relevant today for 500 million people spread throughout 30-plus Spanish-speaking nations.


Some significant events in the 2 major indigenous empires:

1438 - 1471 Lord Inca Pachcutec, who greatly expanded Empire in today’s Peru & Bolivia
1471 - 1493 Lord Inca Tupac Yupanqui
1493 - 1527 Lord Inca Huayna Capac, died from Old World disease, the next 2 rulers were his sons and rivals for the title
1511 - the Spanish make first contact in the continental Americas & bring smallpox and other Old World infectious diseases
1519 Aztec Emperor Montezuma II - meets Cortes
1521 Tenochtitlan, capital of Mexica Triple Alliance (Aztec Empire), fell to Spain (Cortes’ conquest) in battle
1527 - 1532 Lord Inca Huascar, died from Old World disease
1532 - 1533 Lord Inca Atahualpa, captured and executed by Spain (Pizarro’s conquest)
1572 Tupac Amaru II, last heir to throne, tried to expel Spaniards but was publicly decapitated

Independence from Spain:

1810: Argentina, Venezuela, Chile
1811: Paraguay
1815: Uruguay, but under Brazil’s dominion until 1828
1818: Chile
1821: Peru, Panama, Mexico

[Rincey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars?

This is not a proper history of Latin America but it does use these three ideas (silver=mining, sword=violence, stone=religion) to show how the continent has been abused over and over again. It gets harrowing but it is worth the read.

Watch me discuss it in my November wrap up: https://youtu.be/RXAPTOsWqH0

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Silver, Sword, and Stone by Marie Arana, I just had to sit down for a while and let it sink in, something I had to do many times throughout the book as well. I picked up this book because my fiance's family is Hispanic and I wanted to learn more about Latin America. I like how Arana set up this book in three sections - Silver (greed over natural resources), Sword (brutality) and Stone (religion) - three motivations that are the cause of many invasions by colonizers at that time. While she focuses on each of those on their own, she also shows how they all intertwine with each other. Using an actual person for each section and how their lives were affected by these themes makes this book feel even more relevant. Arana wrote about many different countries and significant people in them, but every time you thought "Here is someone who will do the right thing for this country!" you are proven wrong again. Time and again, she shows how a mixture of silver, sword and/or stone corrupts the leaders that once thought themselves the healers of their countries. This book was shocking, educational, and eye-opening. I highly recommend it if you want to know more about Latin America's history.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 thought soon.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Silver, Sword, and Stone:  Three Crucibles of the Latin American Story, I felt as if I’d been beaten about the head and ears.  The “brutal calculus” of Latin American history simply clobbered me, left me reeling.  Marie Arana calls her book a mixture of history and reportage, and that approach, I think, is what makes it so readable, but her work is massive in both scholarship and scope:  from the Pre-Columbian to the Perons, conquistadores to Castro, Santiago to Pope Francis I.  Its structure and focus are derived from three major currents, co-equal driving forces of Latin American history, identified in the title as silver, sword and stone.

Silver for wealth:  mineral, agricultural, fossil fuels, and drugs.  Sword for violence:  war, conquest, revolution, terrorism, dictatorships, gangs.  Stone for religion:  the Sun God, ancient sacrifices, Catholicism, missionary zeal, political involvement.  All leading to or resulting in weakened extractive societies and exploitation driven by greed.  For each of the three, Ms. Arana weaves in a humanizing touch, stories of three individuals, living examples of silver, sword and stone in today’s Latin America.  Leonor Gonzales is the wife, now widow, of a sick, impoverished gold miner.  Carlos Buergos, a petty Cuban criminal, fought in Angola and was expelled from Cuba when Castro emptied the prisons of “undesirables”.  Spaniard Xavier Albo, a Jesuit priest from Catalan, has served the Church in Bolivia since he was seventeen and is now in his nineties.

To this day there is a cruelly high economic imbalance between rich and poor in most of Latin America and a pronounced arc toward violence and instability.  Latin American countries and cities are often in the majority on lists of the World’s most dangerous. Exploitation and greed, internal and external, historic and current.  Ms. Arana is both fair and thorough in her examination of these volatile parts of our world, and her timely book is a good balance of scholarship and readability.  Effective and affecting.

Available at booksellers everywhere on August 27, 2019.

Full Disclosure:  A review copy of this book was provided to me by Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is as difficult a book to read as any I've read the past few years. It is a cure for every claim that America (ie, anglo-America) was ever morally great, that the Christian faith can lay claim to ideals, and that corporations are value neutral. At the same time, Arana, the author, also takes a hard look at the ancient beliefs and actions of the indigenous people of Central and South America. There is little there to commend itself to people who would like to see something like the brother/sisterhood of all human kind win the day. The book is riveting, detailed, overwhelming, and depressing. But it is necessary reading if we are to take the measure of our own Western traditions, the religions and human greed that animate those traditions, and the violence of our governments. Punctuated by human stories of hope as well as human tragedy, I was amazed that Arana did not write with more bitterness and anger. But perhaps her quiet, focussed recounting of how things went down is all the more powerful for her (general) lack of emotion. Well written. Compelling. A necessary read for all Christians, who, like me, can no longer make the connection between what Jesus said and what 99% is the church is. But the same goes for me as a US and Canadian citizen. We have failed to live up to the morals we have so naively laid out in our Bills of Rights, Declarations of Independence, and Charters of Rights and Freedoms.

[Michael Berens · Rating 5 out of 5]

As many other reviewers have indicated, this is an emotionally wrenching book. The amount of death, destruction and suffering recorded in its pages is truly staggering. Arana's clear and engaging prose, along with her journalist's balanced perspective of telling it like it is and deep feeling and respect for the people of Latin America make it endurable. For anyone interested in the current state of Latin America or planning to travel to Latin America, this is a great supplement to a general history or overview of the region. Arana does an excellent job of getting at the "why" and not just the "what" of the region's uniqueness, its diversity and unity, and its challenges.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of Latin American history, told through the three concepts of silver (wealth and exploitation), sword (conquest), and stone (religion). It contains a lot of conflict and hardship, as one might expect through those three themes, and connects the history of many of the countries through Latin America. It probably deserves a reread at some point, because there’s so much information that I’d like to remember.

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Arana's book reviews for years. And I'll say this to start: I wish I could write as she does. Her writing is atmospheric and beautiful; it evokes emotions and images in a profound and affecting way.

This book reflects her writing. It's poetically written and it's smart. (This is one the few times I've highlighted a book so much.) The arguments she makes is coherent and backed up by facts and by stories. But be aware: this book is dense and brutal. The density derives from the repeating of information and from the frequency of facts to elucidate any particular point. Overall, someone needed to strictly edit this volume for flow and sheer weight of substantiating details. That said, the information is also violent and this violence is overwhelming. Granted the actual violence recounted here was horrible and persistent--the point of the book. Reading about it is difficult. And the amount of it in printed words makes the reading experience tremendously painful. I read in small chunks. But the book addresses a necessary history that lives very much in the contemporary.

As an aside: I wonder how the main argument of the book plays out in the Philippines, where some proudly describe themselves as "Spanish" or the "Latinos of Asia." Similarly, it would be interesting to see how the premise reflects the experiences and histories of locals who live with the legacy of the French colonialists in Southeast Asia and the Dutch in Indonesia.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this three and one half stars and rounding up for the ambition Arana brings to this work. Arana attempts to write a history of the economic exploitation, physical elimination and cultural suppression of Indigenous inhabitants beginning with the arrival of Spanish Conquistadors to present day. Because of a strong ideological bias and limited length for fully exploring her views, I fear the book won't be appreciated unless one shares the views of the author. Consider Zinn's A People's History of the United States or a Michael Moore film which have a similar problem. I consider those issues to be far less important than what Arana achieves which is a compact, dense yet readable history of a long and continued racial and class subjugation in Latin America relevant to topics from immigration to the inherited cultural characteristics of trauma.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Survey, Singular Political View

When did I last read a broad survey of the history of Latin America? It was perhaps a world history class in high school and I remember only a few highlights — how tiny groups of Spanish conquistadors under Cortez defeated the Aztec rulers in 1519 in what is now Mexico City, and under Pizarro in 1532 defeated the Incas in what is now Ecuador.

Swirling around in my mind in a somewhat disorganized way was the name Simon Bolivar who tried to unite and reform the countries of Latin America in the early 19th Century, the ambiguous role of the Catholic church, myriad dictatorships and poor governance, and the periodic role of the American military in toppling governments to protect American corporate investments and to support dictatorships which seemed to offer stability at the expense of responsible governance.

Author Marie Arana’s book will be a refresher course in all of the above. The author also has a strong political point of view which is conventional and doesn’t present any alternative viewpoints — perhaps inevitable in a 360 page book covering centuries of history in such a large geographic area.

Thus I would have liked the author to explore the periods and countries where rule of law and good governance had flourished, however briefly. Was the influence of the Catholic church or American foreign policy or American capitalism totally without redeeming merit? In other words, what positive lessons can be taken from the history of 33 countries and 500 years? The history of the region, according to the author, is an unremitting tale of woe and diabolical foreign interference.

Silver describes the Spanish obsession with acquiring gold and silver, which was found in such quantities that it transformed Spain and Europe generally in a way that was disruptive to the society that proceeded it. Of course the indigenous peoples of Latin America died in their tens of thousands to mine the metals so coveted by the Spanish.

Sword describes not only the oppression of the native peoples, but also the impact on the Spanish conquerers. Even decades after the arrival of the first Conquistadors, those born in Latin America, including those of pure Spanish blood, were second-class citizens to those born and sent out from Spain. The Spanish often intermingled with natives to produce a mixed race population. This differed from the experience in North America, where a new class of American-born elite rose to the top, and racial intermingling with native Americans was less common.

Stone is the metaphor for the role of the Catholic church, which in the author’s view bears responsibility for the subjugation of indigenous people. Only in 1969 did a Theology of Liberation take root, which emphasized a connection between earthly emancipation and the Kingdom of God. This, says Arana, was rejected by the Vatican, which emphasized that believers should free themselves from sin, not oppression. Because of this, says Arana, Protestant evangelicals and Pentecostal sects are growing at the expense of the Catholic church.

In the end, one of the most fascinating parts of this book is what would have absorbed me as a teenager. Pizarro, with 180 men, faced down the Inca leader Atahualpa, with 80,000 troops. Through deception and self-confidence that can only be described as astonishing, the Inca chief was taken hostage, the Spanish mobilized other tribes that had been suffering under the Inca leadership, and prevailed. Similarly Cortez took the Aztec leader Motecuzoma hostage but ultimately had to rely upon rescue by a larger Spanish force. The Spaniards’ ultimate success was the result of a smallpox epidemic that wiped out much of the native population, together with alliances with other indigenous tribes that had been oppressed by the Aztecs. In the end, all the natives came under brutal subjugation under Spanish rule.

Arana has provided an interesting historical overview of a region that is huge geographically (Brazil alone is the size of Europe) and which today constitutes 8.4% of the world population. Her analysis of the factors influencing today’s economic and cultural situation are interesting but this survey lacks nuance and exploration of a range of views and interpretation.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! I’d say she used effective devices (weaving in personal narratives) to make this blend of history and journalism readable and effective. Idk I think there was some unevenness. The narrative of the person who represented the armed conflict was far less engaging than the other two, and I think “stone” was a little too much of a catch-all. BUT I think it was effective and well written

[Rawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

صحيح أن الكتاب باللغة الإنجليزية و لكنني سأكتب المراجعة بلغتي الأم العربية حتى أستطيع التعبير بشكل جيد و إيصال أفكاري بوضوح، أولا الكاتبة ماريا أرانا من الأقلام الرائعة التي أعتبر نفسي محظوظة باكتشافها و القراءة لها و هذا ثاني عمل لها آقرأه بعد كتابها الممتاز عن السيرة الذاتية لسيمون بوليفار المحرر العظيم لأمريكا اللاتينية و الذي أعيد قراءته للمرة الثانية في هذه الأيام، الكاتبة ماريا لها أسلوب أدبي جميل جدا و رائق ،فهي تجيد استعمال التعبيرات المناسبة و كلماتها منتقاة بعناية و في نفس الوقت لا تحس بالتكلف في كتاباتها، فالمعنى يصل إليك بكل سلاسة لدرجة أنك تتأثر بمشاعرك مع الشخصيات و تحس بهم و بمعاناتهم.

الدكتورة ماريا من أم أمريكية و أب بيروفي و عاشت طفولتها في البيرو ثم انتقلت بعد ذلك و هي في عمر التاسعة للحياة في أمريكا مما منحها ميزة مهمة جدا و هي كونها تتقن اللغتين الإسبانية و الإنجليزية بطلاقة و بالتالي كونها ملمة بالثقافتين الأمريكية الأنجلوساكسونية و اللاتينية مما يجعلها وسيطا ممتازا بين الثقافتين المختلفتين و قادرة على إيصال أعمق المفاهيم و الأفكار عن أمريكا اللاتينية للعالم بسهولة، هذه المنطقة الخلابة شديدة التنوع و الثراء، تاريخها فريد لا يشبه تاريخ أي منطقة في العالم، اختلطت فيه مختلف الثقافات و الأعراق و الأجناس في بوتقة واحدة، تحدث فيها قصص عجيبة لايمكن أن تحدث في اي مكان آخر في العالم،تاريخها حزين مليء بالاستغلال و العنف و الدم منذ قبل وصول الأوروبين إلى يومنا الحاضر، و في نفس الوقت أهلها مرحون محبون للموسيقى و الرقص و كرة القدم.

حسنا الكاتبة في كتابها هذا تشرح كيف أصبحت أمريكا اللاتينية بهذا الشكل،عن طريق ثلاث قصص لشخصيات حقيقية من لحم و دم و انت لتفهم كيف تكونت هذه المنطقة عليك أن تتعرف على هذه الثلاثة ركائز التي عنونت بها الكتاب

اولا :silver و هي معادن الذهب و الفضة المتواجدة بوفرة في هذه الأرض الغنية الكريمة و التي كانت لعنة على أهلها حيث جعلتها مطمعا للغزاة و المستعمرين منذ قبل وصول الأوروبين حيث كانت القبائل الهندية تغير على بعضها البعض طمعا في الذهب و من ثم وصول الأوروبيين مع كولومبوس الذين كان غرض رحلته الأساسي الوصول إلى ذهب الهند، حيث اذاق الإسبان أهلها سوء العذاب من قتل وتهجير و جعلهم عبيدا في مناجم الذهب و الفضة، إلى يومنا الحاضر حيث الشركات العالمية متعددة الجنسيات مازالت تمارس نفس سياسات المستعمرين الإسبان قديما و تهجر السكان الأصليين من أرضهم و تستغلهم في العمل في المناجم في ظروف شديدة البؤس بأسعار زهيدة جدا و هذا كله في حبكة جميلة عن طريق شخصية السيدة ليونور جونزاليز و هي أرملة اربعينية من السكان الأصليين في البيرو ترك لها زوجها ستة أطفال بعد أن مات في حادث مأساوي في أحد مناجم الفضة نتيجة لظروف العمل شديدة السوء في المنجم، تريك حكايتها حجم الشقاء الذي تعيش فيه ليونور و عائلتها و قومها منذ مئات السنين بسبب هذه الثروات الطبيعية التي أودعها الله عزوجل في أرضهم.

الركيزة الثانية هي Sword, وهي بمعنى سيف، وهي إشارة للعنف الذي يصبغ هذه القارة منذ ولادتها منذ ماقبل وصول كولومبوس حيث كانت بعض قبائل السكان الأصليين تقدم القرابين البشرية للآلهة أملا في رضاها، إلى الإسبان الذين كانوا شديدي التوحش مع السكان الأصليين و حتى بعد رحيل الإسبان نشبت حروب أهلية عنيفة في معظم أنحاء القارة إلى ��ومنا هذا حيث تنتشر تجارة المخدرات و الجريمة بسبب الفقر و التفاوت الطبقي الحاد بين الأغنياء و الفقراء.
و و في هذا الجزء نتعرف على كارلوس الشاب الكوبي الوسيم ذي العشرين عاما الذين كان مليئا بالآمال المستقبلية و يعيش قصة حب جميلة مع حبيبته و يأمل في الزواج منها ليجد نفسه فجأة في حرب أهلية عنيفة في قارة أخرى في أنغولا البلد الأفريقي لا ناقة له فيها و لاجمل لتأخذه الحياة في طريق مختلف تماما، سيقترب من الموت عدة مرات و سيعود إلى كوبا و يهاجر إلى أمريكا و يعاني معاناة أخرى في أمريكا في قصة عجيبة و لا الأفلام الهوليوودية، ستتعاطف معه و ستحزن عليه كثيرا و يتقطع قلبك عليه،أنا فقط لا أريد سرد باقي مآسيه حتى لا أحرق الأحداث في قصته.

الركيزة الثالثة و هي Stone, بمعنى حجر في إشارة إلى الدين الذي كان من أهم أسباب رحلة كولومبوس التي اكتشف بها هذا العالم الجديد، حيث كانت هذه الرحلة استمرارا للحملة الصليبية التي طردت المسلمين من الأندلس، و كان نشر الكاثوليكية من أهداف إسبانيا في العالم الجديد،و بصفة عامة لايمكن أن تفهم أمريكا اللاتينية و لا حتى آوروبا قبل أن تكون لديك فكرة كافية عن الكاثوليكية و هذا ما سأحاوله قريبا إن شاء الله في قراءات لكتب أخرى في المستقبل، تبدأ الكاتبة منذ الأديان الوثنية التي كان يعتنقها السكان الأصليون قبل إجبارهم على اعتناق المسيحية من قبل الإسبان، ستتعرف على حضارتهم التي كان الدين جزءا أساسا فيها و كيف يفكرون و ينظرون للكون و الحياة و الموت، ستتعرف على وجهة نظر جديدة تماما علينا لم نسمعها قبلا، و ستكتشف حجم الكذب و التدليس الذين كان يقوله الأوروبيون عندما كانوا يتهمون السكان الأصليين بالغباء و التخلف، و رمز هذه القصة هو القسيس خافيير ألبو، هذا القسيس البرشلوني ابتعثته الكنيسة الكاثوليكية إلى بوليفيا في الستينيات ضمن محاولاتها لوقف المد الشيوعي الملحد الذي كان ينتشر في أمريكا اللاتينية في تلك الفترة،خافيير عندما وصل بوليفيا كان في العشرينات من عمره و مكث فيها حوالي خمسين سنة هو الآن في السبعينات من عمره، تحكي الكاتبة رحلته في بوليفيا و تعرفه على لغة و عادات السكان الأصليين الذين من المفترض أن يعمل معهم لنشر المسيحية بينهم و نعود معه بالزمن للوراء منذ وصول المستعمرين الإسبان حيث كانت البعثات الأولى تحتوي قادة عسكريين و منصرين، هؤلاء القساوسة كيف نشروا المسيحية بلا هوادة لدرجة أنها صارت الديانة الأولى في كل القارة بلا منافس ابدا و كيف كانوا ينظرون للسكان الأصليين ،ما الذي حدث عندما التقى عالمان مختلفان تماما في كل شيء، كيف عامل بعض القساوسة السكان الأصليين بكل قسوة و اعتبروهم في مرتبة الحيوانات لايستحقون أي رحمة و شجعوا الإسبان على استغلالهم و اضطهادهم، و كيف أن آخرين أحبوا السكان الأصليين ووتعاطفوا لدرجة انهم تعلموا لغتهم و هم من حفظوا لنا لغتهم و ثقافتهم و عاشوا حياتهم مثل القس خافيير و بعضهم ضحى بحياته لأجل حمايتهم من بطش الإسبان، إلى أن تصل إلى يومنا الحالي حيث تبحث الكاتبة وضع الكاثوليكية في أمريكا اللاتينية في الوقت الحالي و لماذا بدأ اللاتينيون بهجرون ديانتهم الام الكاثوليكية و يبحثون عن الخلاص في أديان أخرى حيث تعتبر البروتستانتية أكثر ديانة يتحول الكاثوليك إليها.
كانت نسبة الكاثوليك في أمريكا اللاتينية ٩٥ ٪ اليوم أصبحت ٦٥٪،يعني خسارة كبيرة الكنيسة الكاثوليكية لا يستهان لها إطلاقا.

خلاصة الكتاب جميل جداً و أنصح به بشدة أي شخص مهتم بتاريخ الأمريكيتين أو حتى العالم بصفة عامة، إذا كان يوجد أي شخص محب للأدب اللاتيني فإن شاء الله سيحب هذا الكتاب او شخص قرأ كتاب الشرايين المفتوحة لأمريكا اللاتينية و أعجبه فغالبا إن هذا الكتاب سيناسب ذائقته كثيرا.

[MaggiCat Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Arana's insightful work is groundbreaking. The three lives of Leonor Gonzales, Carlos Buergos, and Xavier Albo and how they are linked to the Silver, Sword, and Stone (religion) of Latin America is dazzling, revealing, and wrenching. My knowledge of the history of Latin America was paltry to begin with, but with this was eye-opening in a way I didn't see coming. A must read for everyone and probably the best book of the year.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible synthesis of history through the lens of three themes: attraction of precious metals, violence, and religion and spirituality. I would not recommend this as one's first, second, or even third book of the history and culture of Latin America. Arana gives discretion at the beginning of the book saying it's not outrightly a history book, which I agree with. There's far too much information over hundreds of years of Latin American history that Arana provides. I'd categorize it more as an interpretation and synthesis of history.

I remember in my first Latin American history course taught in Spanish in college I began to really wonder what the long-term implications on colonization were. I've traveled to 5 countries in Latin America and have heard similar philosophies and histories from evangelical pastors in Guatemala to Chilean professors who grew up under la mano durísima de Augusto Pinochet. Arana explains so many of these patterns in a concise way. All of the history, all of the interpretation that she offers is being echoed throughout various places in Latin America, but Arana connects these patterns of fault through three distinct lenses. I appreciate that she explicitly names the atrocities against the Indigenous peoples of Latin America that continue; this is certainly not a historical interpretation from the victor's perspective (colonizers or rich white latinos).

Some caveats that have been addressed in other reviews: this is not, I repeat *not* a comprehensive history of Latin America. It was never meant to be. It is not a book to be relied upon as someone's first experience with Latin American history. Arana provides little explanation into the history of many of the figures and events that she mentions. I don't think that means what she says should be taken with a grain of salt though. Arana doesn't mean to paint Latin America as some huge monolith without intricacies in each country, region, and province. Rather, she explains foundational veins of enduring thought and circumstance; an acknowledgement that instability, violence, and dictaduras are a product of history that happened hundreds of years ago and continues on today.

You will absolute feel wrecked if you read this without context and knowledge on the commonalities in the Latin American culture and history. This book is also an answer to many questions you may have as someone who lives outside of Latin America, or an important reframing of history and who tells it if you are someone who lives in Latin America or is heavily involved in its culture and affairs.

[Abra Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because the topic was the history of the South America and Latin America - something that I knew very little about. There are three characters whose lives she weaves through the telling of the history. The Silver represents the riches of the regions that have been exploited and stolen throughout centuries, the sword represents the tendency of violence throughout, and the stone represents the church and the role that the church played in the exploitation. I have to admit that this was laborious for me to get through. The sections involving the 3 characters proved to be the most interesting; however, they were actually a small part of the book. There is a tendency for the author to use excessively difficult vocabulary, sometimes its words I was unfamiliar with and sometimes it was the way she used them that made reading difficult. She obviously has an extraordinary vocabulary but I have never had such difficulty with the language of a book. It made for tedious reading. I persevered because I am truly interested in understanding the history of these parts of the world. I also found myself wondering if the subject matter was just too broad for one book. The book covered more than a continent, made up of many countries but also the entire Latin American areas including Mexico and the Caribbean Islands; from approximately the 1500s through today. She doesn't claim that it's an exhaustive history but clearly it covers a lot of ground. I wish it had been an easier read.

[Renato Garín · Rating 4 out of 5]

"La Plata, la Espada y la Piedra", escrito por la talentosa autora peruana Marie Arana, es una obra maestra que sumerge al lector en el rico tapiz de la historia de América Latina, con un enfoque especial en las civilizaciones Incas, Mayas y Aztecas. Este libro es un testimonio de la habilidad de Arana para entrelazar hábilmente historias antiguas con un análisis contemporáneo, ofreciendo una visión profunda y matizada de estas culturas fascinantes.La primera sección del libro, dedicada a la plata, describe cómo este precioso metal moldeó las sociedades de América Latina. Arana explora el impacto de la plata en las civilizaciones Inca, Maya y Azteca, ilustrando cómo su descubrimiento y uso no solo crearon prosperidad, sino que también atrajeron la atención de los conquistadores, lo que llevó a cambios dramáticos en estas sociedades. Su narrativa captura la complejidad de cómo la plata fue tanto un símbolo de riqueza como un catalizador de la colonización.La espada, como símbolo de conquista y resistencia, es el foco del siguiente segmento del libro. Arana ofrece una perspectiva única sobre las luchas de poder y las resistencias de los Incas, Mayas y Aztecas frente a los conquistadores. La autora no solo detalla las batallas y las conquistas, sino que también humaniza estos eventos a través de relatos personales, mostrando la resistencia y el coraje de estas civilizaciones frente a la adversidad.La piedra representa el legado duradero de estas civilizaciones, y Arana lo aborda con un respeto y una admiración profundas. Explora las ruinas arquitectónicas, los artefactos y las prácticas espirituales, revelando cómo la piedra es un recordatorio constante de la grandeza de los Incas, Mayas y Aztecas. Su escritura evocadora transporta al lector a estas antiguas civilizaciones, permitiéndole experimentar su esplendor y su sabiduría.Marie Arana, con su profundo conocimiento y su conexión personal con la región, ha creado una obra que es tanto educativa como emocionalmente resonante. "La Plata, la Espada y la Piedra" es más que un libro de historia; es un viaje a través del tiempo y el espacio, un homenaje a las culturas que han formado la base de la América Latina contemporánea.Este libro, con su combinación de rigor académico y narrativa cautivadora, es imprescindible para cualquier persona interesada en entender las raíces y la evolución de América Latina. Marie Arana nos ofrece una ventana a un mundo que, aunque pasado, sigue teniendo un profundo impacto en el presente

[Naum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a history, not journalism (from author's own description of this work), but it is a kind of "big history" of Latin/South America, divided up into 3 sections -- "Silver" for all the metal and mining that drove economics and global capitalism and also swallowed up native populations (& imported African slaves) to serve as fodder; "Sword" for the conquest both before Spain & Portugal conquistadors came and after where countless revolutions and an endless stream of dictators still flow; "Stone" for religious aspects, rooted in native spiritual beliefs about stone & rocks, and then the wave of Catholocism and later modern day Protestant waves that merged in a syncretic spiritual sauce. Within each of these parts, a human story is interwoven -- for "Silver" it is a poor Peruvian miner widow named Leonor, for "Sword" it is a Cuban migrant named Carlos who served in Cuban army and later escaped Cuba as part of the Mariel boatlift affair in 1980, for "Stone" it is Jesuit priest Xavier Albo whose long life story arc also melds with prominent historical figures Pope Francis, Evo Morales, and persecuted/murdered Liberation Theology priests.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I wish I'd had in all of my intro to Latin American studies courses. It's Open Veins, updated. She writes a history of Latin America from conquest to present through mining, violence, and religion - and their intersections. A good refresher, good overview - one the cases and areas I know well I was sometimes skeptical of certain framings, but that's inevitable in a project of this scale. Worth reading as an introduction or overview of historical trends in the region and the debates that arise. This book touches on pretty much every argument we had in my MA in Latin American Studies classes.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An often heartbreaking history of the "three crucibles in the Latin American story" - Silver (standing for the lust for and exploitation of natural resources in general), Sword (standing for bloodshed and violence, from the native bloodletting before the conquest of the Americas to the horrific violence inflicted by the European conquerors and the modern political violence of dictatorships, revolutions, and drug cartels), and Stone (standing for the monuments of stone representing the faiths of Latin America, from the stone temples of the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, and so forth to the modern churches and cathedrals). Definitely worth reading!

[Reggie Shoats · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read from start to finish. To a certain extent, I feel that this book should be highly recommended for High School or College-aged students to read/listen to solely based on how eye-opening this book is. The realities of our country's (and this continent's) formation are listed in such a vivid way, easily transitioned to the problems we currently face, that you'll be compelled to ever view our world via the same lens. I knew in brief the story of the American continents colonial past, rape, destruction, and pillage; yet this book connected the dots in a way I never imagined. A must read immediately.

[Allen Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basics of Latin American colonialism I'm familiar with from reading other history books such as Guns, Steel and Germs, but Marie tells this story from a more indigenous-centric point of view, centering on three modern day figures. She tells the story of the underdogs, the oppressed, and often times the loser in the tragic history of Latin America. Readers be warned: the author does not shy away from the gruesome and horrifying details of how large groups of people were murdered and tortured.

[Kelsey Birchem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book! Thinking back on my high school education I vaguely remembered the history lessons about Columbus, Pizzaro, Cortés and the like. I had heard of the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. We never went into great detail though. This book does a great job describing and explaining pre-Columbian times, the actual conquests of Latin America, and the far reaching consequences over the last 500 years.

This history of Latin America is sectioned into three driving forces that have shaped the region: silver and the exploitation of the populations that have mined it for centuries, sword and the violence that has overrun the Americas for millennia, and stone, the role that religion and especially the Catholic Church has played.

Many stories within this book broke my heart but I came out with a much clearer understanding of Latin America along with more knowledge of the United States' role in shaping much of it's history.

[Deborah Shank · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a person who doesn’t love getting lost in the weeds of historical trivia I really liked this thematic approach to the history of Latin America. What a bloody insane story of greed, conquest, and violence. It’s an important story, I think, maybe especially right now.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enthralling and ambitious history of a continent undeniably linked with money, violence and religion. Arguably a reductive, rather negative way to assess the region, but this triple prong does provide a neat framework in charting the catastrophic colonial phenomenon. .

Latin American societies are almost unrecognisable from their appearance in the 1400s, prior to the explosive clash of worlds in 1492 that Charles C. Mann termed the most ‘significant ecological event since the extinction of the dinosaurs’. And to which this book roughly owes it’s start point.

I loved the way Arana entangles the macro themes with the personal stories of a three carefully chosen individuals. These are the symbiotic prisms through which we must analyse history to ensure it is both engaging and resolutely factual. There is a notable absence of positivity about the histories of these countries through the authors eyes. Is this due to the need to structure a gargantuan amount of knowledge in a digestible format? Or is Arana wielding a scalpel that cuts straight to the traumatic, tumorous truth?

Either way, this is recommended reading for all lovers of Latin American history. Bonus points that it was a spot on gift from a great friend who clearly knows me very well.

[Jack Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silver, Sword & Stone, Marie Arana 2019
I was attracted to this new title because over my lifetime I have lived in, 2 places originally part of New Spain, Florida and now in Santa Fe, once a northernmost provincial capital of New Spain for over 200 years. The echoes of that distant past still reverberate here today: The Catholic Church is still the preeminent religious institution for many Hispanics and indigenous people, descendants of the original Spanish settlers still live here and are prominent, The annual fiesta de Santa Fe celebrates the re-subjugation of the Indian peoples after the Pueblo revolt of 1675 and the main shopping mall is named after the subjugator in chief, Don Diego DeVargas.
Latin America has never been foremost in American consciousness. We hear or know about Castro in Cuba or the Iran Contras scandal, MS13, Maduro in Venezuela or the Central American immigrants seeking asylum, but by and large, we don’t know why political instability, dictatorships and violence are endemic to the region. If you read this book you will know. It is a beautifully written and sweeping history of Latin America from the Inca and Aztec Empires, from the Spanish conquest to the revolutions spawned by Simon Bolivar to the United Fruit company and American meddling and support for rightwing governments.
The title of the book refers to the three overwhelming influences that have been paramount in determining the history of the region, the first being the Spanish obsession with seeking silver or precious metals. This is what instigated the original conquest. The original Conquistadors were hardened military veterans of the late 15th century war to expel Muslims and Jews from the Spanish peninsula. They encountered the new world at a time of political warfare and instability in the two prominent Aztec and Inca empires. These two factors can only partly explain their audacious and unlikely conquest of empires numbering in the tens of millions of inhabitants with a few hundred Spanish soldiers on horseback. Brilliant political and military strategy was involved but, in any case, the indigenous inhabitants could hardly have guessed the extent of the brutal exploitation that was to follow. Within the space of 100 years over 90% of their population would be exterminated either by being murdered or worked to death as slaves in the mines or through imported disease. This first encounter with Renaissance Europeans has set the tone for the 500 years of history that have followed. “Since time immemorial in Latin America Indians have looked around, seen themselves in the majority, and remain losers still. By now, they and their descendants have become past masters at losing. Riches surrendered by the ubiquitous earth, whether it be silver, sugar, oil, or human capital – have been gathered up by invaders, forged into profits, and swept away to a far metropolis”. “As a result, Latin American republics became extractive by nature: they concentrated all power in a tiny elite, placed few restraints on their staggering clout, and invited the rest of the world in to exploit the land and it’s people”.
The second determining factor in the title is the sword or the “Mano Dura”, the utilization of brutal force to rule and subjugate the population. As Simon Bolivar presciently said over 200 years ago: “Democracy -Philadelphia style- could never function for a people so congenitally backward; a population that had been cowed and infantilized by 300 years of persecution and slavery. A democratic system, far from rescuing us, can only bring us ruin. We are a region plagued by vices learned from Spain, which through history, has been a mistress of cruelty, ambition, meanness and greed. Neither kings nor constitutional congresses can tame these unwieldy Americas, but a firm authoritarian government might, especially if bolstered by a robust military”. Sadly Bolivar’s predictions have largely held true for 200 years from the original brutal wars of independence to the meddling of the United States in the twentieth century that resulted in right wing strongmen taking over from Argentina to Chile to El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Guatemala and leftwing autocrats taking power in Cuba and Venezuela. The resulting political unrest and turmoil have extracted a huge toll of death and human suffering that continues to this day.
The third factor in the title is the stone which stands for religion. But what does religion have to do with stones? From what is known of Mesoamerican mythology, stones were and are considered to have spiritual power. “Stones had authority, agency – the ability to represent us to a higher power. Eventually human sacrifice came to be tied with stone worship. Blood was spilled on stone; human offerings were made on thick slabs of it so rewards could be extracted from gods, and the living could coerce the spirits” (1). Under the guise and justification of converting heathens to the true faith and saving heathen soles, the Church and the Spanish crown mostly looked the other way as the Spanish settlers murdered, raped and enslaved the Indian populations. On top of the pyramids and Pagan temples the Spanish placed stone upon stone and built their own churches often utilizing the same previously sacred stones. One can say that after 400 years of missionary zeal and forced conversion the Catholic Church did become the default and primary religion of Latin America and the last strong respite of the faith.
For those contemplating a trip to Mexico, Central America or South America this book should be required reading as it will give insight into the history, culture and situation of the people you are to visit. If you are curious about the thousands of Central American refugees arriving at our southern border. then this book will make you realize that the United States has some level of culpability in the chaotic and human rights disasters now besetting those countries and that we have some responsibility for helping attain some level of stability.
In the end the book points to the ultimate irony: For the thousands of tons of bullion extracted from the new world and sent to Spain, the resulting outcome ultimately impoverished Spain itself. Most of the wealth ended up in the hands of small elite minority, the crown used its stake to fund endless European wars, the Catholic Church built monumental cathedrals and the influx of so much currency was akin to printing money; it fueled a massive inflation which impoverished the majority. The penultimate irony: The unequal distribution of wealth that persisted into the twentieth century helped to engender a catastrophic and murderous civil war which in turn led to a 50-year murderous military dictatorship. In the end Spain suffered the same ignominious fate it had bequeathed on its new world colonies.
One lesson comes through loud and clear; societies with vast disparities of wealth are inherently unstable societies: Violence, revolutions, civil wars and dictatorships are never far away.
Marie Anana was born in Lima, Peru of a Spanish father and Peruvian mother. She is the author of several novels as well Bolivar, American Liberator, winner of the LA Times book award. JACK
(1) (As an aside, I myself had an encounter with an Indian burial site in California and an unlikely otherworldly paranormal experience with stone. Surprisingly the coastal Indians of California had a similar mythology as the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas.)

[Dan Nuxoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book deals with Latin American history using three motifs—silver (natural resources), the sword, and religion (the stone of the title). One of the major themes of the book is that the current culture of Latin American has roots in its pre-Columbian past as well as in the period of Spanish colonization. The book does somewhat avoid the romanticization of the pre-Columbian period, sometimes explicitly refuting the idea that the population of the Americas was living in peace and prosperity before the arrival of the Spanish.

Of the three motifs, the sword is clearly dominant. The stories of silver is mostly about the use of power to get silver, and the section on religion is almost completely about the relations between religion and the state.

The book is a grand tour of the history of American. It is only loosely chronological, and it juxtaposes events from different parts of Latin America to make its point. Given the vast span of time and geography, the book is bound to be somewhat superficial and to get some things wrong.

For example, the book states confidently that the precepts of “do not lie, steal, or be slothful were “deeply engrained in the Andean people” even before the arrival of Columbus. The source for this conclusion is not given, but it seems to be a Jesuit anthropologist. Variants of this same assertion are repeated several times and this moral code is contrasted with Catholicism. Given that this claim is in the midst of an explanation how little we can know about pre-Columbian cultures because the Aztecs and the Incas did not have a system of writing and because the European chronicles have a very biased perspective, one has to wonder how anyone knows that anything about the pre-Columbian popular religion. It is difficult enough to establish what the elite in that civilization believed and did, let alone the popular “deeply engrained” moral code. This smacks of the kind of romanticism (virtuous Indian, vicious Spaniard) that the author repudiates in other contexts.

Interspersed with this history are the three stories about people who are taken as representing one of the three major motifs—a Peruvian mining family, a Cuban solider / criminal, and a Bolivian Jesuit.

Overall, I think the book is more of a series of anecdotes which have been selected with a strong editorial point of view. That point of view is that colonialism and race has played a critical roles in Latin American history; the author clearly condemns both.

[Robert Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartfelt and very moving history and anecdotes, but very selective approach to both that leaves me feeling like the story is too one-sided. You'd have to read a lot of credible Latin American history and anthropology in a deep dive to feel as though you really understood the analysis in this book. The approach of seeing things through the three elements of "resource" extraction (note very little discussion of anything but silver and gold, not oil or agriculture), military action (with emphasis on bloodbaths), and religion (with what I can only describe as a gently approving view of something I perceive very differently) misses out on some basic drivers of culture, including economic structure and management, government and politics of the non-military variety, and social community and welfare (just exactly why are gangs and drug lords so prominent in many countries in Latin America). The bit on epigenetic inheritance applied to being bloody-minded (literally) is classic misapplication of science, if she's serious about it. It is much more likely that the broad cultural and socialization structures rampant throughout the region are responsible for the continuity she finds so demoralizing; leaving it to epigenetics just removes the responsibility from the communities that propagate these cultures. I believe that, fundamentally, each and every person taken in their community is responsible for advancing human rights and has the moral responsibility to do so.

[John Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Arana is the daughter of a Peruvian father and a North American mother, which she explored well in her memoir, AMERICAN CHICA. This is a much broader Latin American history and look at contemporary Latin American issues. She contends that to fully understand Latin America you need to understand the role of minerals (Silver), violence (Sword) and religion (Stone) played in its ancient, exploration and independence struggle and how it it currently. She uses three people to center her story--a Peruvian woman miner, a Cuban criminal and a Spanish priest who has worked in Bolivia and Ecuador. Arana writes beautifully and with passion. The book is well-researched with 80 pages of notes added to the book, using both primary and secondary Spanish and English sources. This is a strong and provocative history of this region.

[Camille Plemmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few months ago I tried to read Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano, and I just couldn’t do it. The writing felt very dry and impersonal to me and I felt like I was missing the forest for the trees, trying to keep up with every little detail only to not really understand the wider impact of the events he was describing. But I still wanted to learn about the effects of imperialism in Latin America, so that’s where this book came in. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be. Marie Arana is an amazing writer, and the way she showed the modern day impact of the history of different Latin American countries through individuals that she met and interviewed ties it all back in a tangible way. It did take me a while to read this book because I felt like I needed long breaks between particularly brutal sections. But it’s amazingly well done and very informative.