Born in Blood and Fire: Latin American Voices

by John Charles Chasteen (Editor and Translator)

Born in Blood and Fire: Latin American Voices includes colorful and engaging narrative accounts taken from novels, journals, essays, newspaper articles, and other documentary sources, many appearing in English for the first time and many translated by John Chasteen. Selections mirror the chronological and geographical coverage of Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, Latin American History

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

Reviews

[Mark Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Charles Chasteen edited Born in Blood and Fire: Latin American Voices, as a companion volume to his history of Latin America, and it’s full of fascinating primary sources. I will quickly admit that I don’t know as much as I should about the history of Latin America, and Born in Blood and Fire: Latin American Voices gave me a taste of the region’s complex history and struggles through colonialism and independence.

Chasteen has chosen a variety of sources; and along with the non-fiction that you might expect to find in such a book, he also includes a good helping of fiction, which gives the reader a feel for the places the authors are describing. My favorite fiction selection was from The Stock Market, an 1891 novel by Julian Martel. It’s about real estate speculation in Buenos Aires, and Martel’s sharp eye for social status indicators reminded me of Tom Wolfe.

An anthology like this one inevitably has its limitations, as it isn’t the smoothest reading experience to be constantly switching authors and topics every few pages. However, for those interested in Latin American history, it pairs well with Chasteen’s narrative history.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with short historical excerpts from literature, newspapers, political correspondance, interviews, and probably more. Is meant to pair with the textbook of the same name.

I didn't read every single thing, just what was assigned in class, but nonetheless thought each anecdote was beneficial to my learning and most were actually interesting to read.

[anne beiswanger]

had to read for school

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice summary of Latam history, but a bit too concise.

[Bookluvr7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

School book. It’s always hard for me to read autobiographical works by people because I don’t always care. But this one had a good selection of works to read from and did develop on the history that I learned from the other book. There was multiple point of views from all sorts of people which was really nice to see.

3/5⭐️

[david · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great companion to Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Amazing section on Guatemala and US intervention there.