The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History Paperback - 2003
by V. S. Naipaul
With clarity and novelistic drama, Naipaul presents an unparalleled feat of historical writing in this early history of Trinidad. 2 maps.
From the jacket flap
The history of Trinidad begins with a delusion: the belief that somewhere nearby on the South American mainland lay El Dorado, the mythical kingdom of gold. In this extraordinary and often gripping book, V. S. Naipaul-himself a native of Trinidad-shows how that delusion drew a small island into the vortex of world events, making it the object of Spanish and English colonial designs and a mecca for treasure-seekers, slave-traders, and revolutionaries.
Amid massacres and poisonings, plunder and multinational intrigue, two themes emerge: the grinding down of the Aborigines during the long rivalries of the El Dorado quest and, two hundred years later, the man-made horror of slavery. An accumulation of casual, awful detail takes us as close as we can get to day-to-day life in the slave colony, where, in spite of various titles of nobility, only an opportunistic, near-lawless community exists, always fearful of slave suicide or poison, of African sorcery and revolt. Naipaul tells this labyrinthine story with assurance, withering irony, and lively sympathy. The result is historical writing at its highest level.
Details
- Title The Loss of El Dorado: A Colonial History
- Author V. S. Naipaul
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Reprint
- Pages 400
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Vintage, New York, New York, U.S.A.
- Date 2003-04-08
- ISBN 9781400030767 / 1400030765
- Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
- Dimensions 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 in (20.07 x 13.21 x 2.29 cm)
-
Themes
- Cultural Region: Caribbean
- Cultural Region: Latin America
- Library of Congress subjects Trinidad - History, El Dorado
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2002066182
- Dewey Decimal Code 972.983
Media reviews
Citations
- Library Journal, 10/01/2003, Page 123
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