"In Caracas they are called toderos because they do a bit of everything (todo)." and "The technical ability of these people was of no interest to the colonial economy. They were treated as so many skilled workers." Two quotes from the book I found so moving I had to add them in my review.

Large sections of this book should be taught in schools. Not all of it though, some of it can be scrapped and the point will still be the same. The main thing that takes you out of the book is how much of it is really long examples.

Other than that, no notes. The book really touches on everything. Even though it was published 51 years ago, what's changed? Too much has stayed the same. Although, talking about the USSR as if it was still an ever-present thing threw me off my rocker a couple times.

If you're reading this review, by the way, please watch the film Sleep Dealer (dir. Alex Rivera, 2008). Thank you.

An interesting perspective and introduction to looking at Latin America through a decolonial lens but definitely does not hold up to any level of academic scrutiny.

This book was simultaneously a history book, a damning anticolonial & anticapitalist treatise, and a warning of the devastation that occurs when profit is chosen over people.

I learned so much reading this and had many, many takeaways. One of the biggest being that the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the U.S. could not have occurred without rampant genocide and destruction in Latin America. For instance, to cite just one staggering fact, "the [indigenous] of the Americas totaled no less than 70 million when the foreign conquerors appeared on the horizon; a century and a half later they had been reduced to 3.5 million." And that's just the largest genocide in the history of Latin America. So many more have occurred since, particularly thanks to U.S.-funded coups in Latin states during the 20th century.

Another major takeaway is that modern capitalism can also not continue without further exploitation of the people and land of Latin America. For decades, Latin American countries have served as a laboratory for unfettered capitalism and been completely crippled by it. Though all of Latin America is made up of independent countries in the modern era, their fate is still decided by external empires. As Galeano says, "He who lends, commands." Latin America's finances still belong to international lenders & banks. Thus Latin America is essentially a continent of colonies; this time controlled entirely by the global economy.

I could say so much more about this enlightening work, but I have a character limit. If like me, you feel like world history was skipped and/or sanitized in school and want to know more about the world, read this! Or if you're disenchanted with capitalism, also like me, and want proof of some of the worst of it, read this book and then follow it up with Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine.