Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

Essential reading.

If we are to understand our world today, we must understand our history. Galeano's heartfelt and powerful observations of Latin American history should move us, and shame us, into understanding compassion and justice. This book will change how we will forever think of world and U.S. history. Today, more than ever, we need this book.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pretentious Claptrap is what you read at school

Read it. and then look for those more factuals materials. but read it, an author that takes a stand beyond just stating facts about such a delicate theme is worth reading.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

to the last reviewer

America does not refer only to the US. Your poor choice of words in your review is coupled with a statement that proves your ignorance to Latin American issues and the imperialist presence the US has in other parts of the world.

This book is definitely worth reading

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Best Book Ever

This book was the most comprenhisive historial book on the evil politics of corruption and monoculture of the Latin American contienent . I greatly reccommened this book as a requirement for every Hispanic person.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A most important work on Latin America

I've bought four copies of this book so far. I keep lending them out and never getting them back. It is the best overall analysis of the reasons for the economic underdevelopment of Latin America and gives valuable historical insights into the effect of geography, European exploitation, the effects of the mis-named 'free trade' in this area of the world, and lastly, the disasterous results of two hundred years of U.S. interventions. Despite the serious economic and political commentaries, the book is lively, occasionally humorous, ironic, and enthralling. I've read it several times and have a well-marked copy that stays on my shelf so I can check the record whenever a upstart politician promises a new Latin American policy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Read this book

Whether you like history or not this book is incredible and greatly enjoyable.

The book Obama won't read....

Eduardo Galeano completed Open Veins of Latin America in 1970. Millions of copies of it in dozens of languages have been sold around the world since then; it has been revised several times with addenda and new introductions for anniversary editions. But the distinctive yellow cover remains the same as does the strong narrative voice which leads the reader to a seamless journey through the complexities of Latin American history and a glimpse of the future-not only of the region, but of the world. Latin America is much like the canary in the coal mine which shows us how toxic greed and addiction to cheap consumer goods can choke off our own economic breath and leave us with unprecedented levels of unemployment, urban poverty and devalued currency. Galeano's book shows us how unlimited global growth has, in the words of Ed Abbey, "the etiology of the cancer cell," whose ultimate aim is the destruction of the host.
I bought my first copy of this book in 1973 from Monthly Review Press. Since then I have bought a dozen copies and given them to friends, students and colleagues. I don't know if they've all read it or appreciated it. Like surgery, reading his book can be a painful experience, an operation to excise a lethal tumor (that of the comforting lies of the mass media) so that truth can flow again. President Obama received a copy of this book as a gift from Venezuelan Present Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas held this year in Port of Spain, Trinidad. When pressured by a "reporter" from Fox network about the appropriateness of receiving a gift from the Venezuelan leader, Osama replied, "Just because I accepted the book, doesn't mean I'm going to read it."
I first met Eduardo Galeano while walking along the Rambla in Montevideo in the late 1990s. He was amazed at the success of the book which far exceeded his own modest expectations. He was also saddened by the fact that so many Latin Americans could not afford to buy it and that so many others were illiterate so could not read it. One story which moved him was that of a student from Buenos Aires who went from bookstore to bookstore reading bits of it in snatched moments because he hadn't the money to purchase a copy. Recalling that story makes Obama's comment even more embarrassing. Galeano has more firsthand knowledge of Latin America than any author writing today. His book is written for the non-specialist but is painstakingly documented. It is accessible but not simplistic. It is history, literature, politics, economics and social science. Finally, for anyone who proposes to be an effective citizen of the Americas or a knowledgeable citizen of the world, it is essential reading. Let's hope that if Obama doesn't change his mind about reading it, he will pass his copy on to Hillary Clinton.

Offers A Very Important Perspective

I bought this book with trepidation after it came on my radar screen when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez gifted it to President Obama when they first met. I had previously visited Venezuela when Chavez was up for "re-election" and was intrigued by the amount of popular support he had among everyday Venezuelans as opposed to my Venezuelan friends who lived here, who essentially fled their country because of Chavez and his policies.

Agree with Chavez or not, this book is a must read for anyone who has ever been curious about the inequality between North and South America and in particular all first and third world societies.

I'm naturally drawn to third world countries for some reason and after spending time there, I always ask myself "why are things the way they are?.. when did the U.S. begin dominating the rest of the world economically?.. how can the U.S. be so affluent and our neighbors just to the south be so void of a middle class?"...

"Open Veins of Latin America" sheds important insights and history that U.S. citizens are NOT taught in schools or exposed to in any way. While at times, I think the finger pointing and lack of accountability is too much, the author has some excellent insights into how events centuries ago have shaped the world as we know it today.

You may, like me, be horrified by the treatment of mankind against his brothers and sisters, all because of greed. There is not much hope given here for things getting better but it may inspire you to try and change things.

I know its easy for comfortable middle class citizens in the dawning of the 21st century to look back with disdain at the ethics of our ancestors, whose actions are the very reason some of us live such comfortable lives while others barely make a living wage.

Its not easy reading, its sometimes painful to think about the issues covered but the book will most likely change your outlook and possibly how you treat your fellow man day to day. I certainly don't agree with everything the author says, but I do respect the perspective and its one of my top 5 books to recommend to others.

Alternative Views of History of The Americas

This book should be offered as an alternative (perhaps more accurate) view of the history of the Americas.

Open Veins of Latin America

Excellent informative reading. History that wasn't taught in school but should be included for prospective and content.

Zero-sum business practices executed to Latin America

Brilliant unyeilding analysis of centuries of zero-sum business practices perpetrated upon Latin America.

A must read.

this is unfounded

just a hit piece on America, they should appreciate all of the advancements in technology, industry, etc. that we have provided

0 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Why Read ????

What is the purpose of this book but to denounce Capitalism. If you lean toward Socialism or Communism views this book is perfect reading for you.
Sorry that I wasted my time. If our reading resorts to this propaganda then we are in trouble in America. Very, very, one sided.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Pretentious Claptrap

Dramatic, overwrought misinterpretations of historical fact such as this one might be emotionally satisfying to the author and to the uneducated or deliberately self-deluding reader, but in the end, fail in what should be the fundamental purpose of history: enlightenment. Don't waste your money on this book. There is a lot of very good criticism out there of the U.S. role in Latin America. You're far better off reading more factual material. This book is the historiographical equivalent of a slasher movie.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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