Rivers of Gold

April 12, 2004
Thomas has long belonged to the elite of Spanish studies. His popular reputation was made in 1961 by a sweeping history of the Spanish Civil War, strongly sympathetic to the Second Republic and smuggled across the Pyrenees during Franco's dictatorship. But by the '80s he was an adviser to Margaret Thatcher (who made him a lord), and over time unfolded an increasingly conservative vision of the Spanish past. In his new book, Thomas returns to the conquest of the Caribbean islands and Mexico in the first two generations after Columbus, relating a sequence of events he has described as the most important phase of world history. He does so with narrative vigor, informed by personal familiarity with two continents. In his insistence on accidental imperialism and on the multinational dimensions of the enterprise of conquest, his interpretation bears some similarity to recent work by Henry Kamen (Empire
). However, the ideological underpinnings will be controversial. Indigenous cultures less concerned with street-cleaning than the Aztecs are described as "savages" who would have destroyed each other had the Spanish not shown up. The demographic catastrophes resulting from conquest are treated as minor details in the chivalric adventure that helped ensure Spanish greatness, a tale in which the "savages" are mere backdrop. Indeed, readers free from colonial prejudice will be surprised to find themselves also written out of history: "Who can doubt now," Thomas asks rhetorically, "that were right to denounce the idea of religion based on human sacrifice or the simple worship of the sun or the rain?"). 32 pages of illus., maps. Agent, Andrew Wylie.

June 1, 2004
The early exploration of the New World is inextricable from the brief and intense rise of the Spanish Empire, shows Thomas in this account, which differs from his several earlier studies of Spain and the colonization of the New World (" Conquest" [1994] and " The Slave Trade " [1997], to name two), primarily in its focus on the relationship between exploration and empire building. Biographical accounts of key figures are key components of Thomas' narrative\emdash Columbus, Ferdinand, and Isabel are, of course, major foci\emdash but at least as interesting is his more subtle description of the rise of bureaucratic institutions in Spain's colonies. In addition, Thomas includes significant moments of empire not directly related to exploration, such as Charles V being elected Holy Roman Emperor. Engagingly presented, this book clearly shows the author's passion for his subject; his preface also reminds us that he has visited nearly all of the places referred to in this book. Includes a family tree, a glossary, and a reading list. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2004
A momentous year for Western civilization, 1492 saw the defeat of the last Islamic state in western Europe and the setting forth of expeditions that would open up an entire hemisphere to European exploration and development. The year 1522 marked the conquest of the Aztecs by Cort s and the return of Magellan's expeditions from the first circumnavigation of the world. Thomas (Conquest: Cort s, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico) here considers Spanish explorers and colonizers from 1492 to 1522, profiling both the famous (e.g., Columbus) and lesser-known but important figures like Cardinal Cisneros and the governors of the Indies. Thomas also relates the effects that the New World had on Spain. One drawback Thomas's Eurocentric approach is evident in his chapter on the conquest of Mexico, which seems to understate the importance of Cort s's Indian allies, stressing their value as porters and not as fighters. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.