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A Eurocentric history that shades into one focusing heavily on the role of the United States as the author moves through the time, this book could have benefited greatly from an expanded focus on the indigenous and African peoples of Latin America (the mestizos get some representation, though perhaps not enough). Also largely absent are voices of peasants, as this is definitely a top down history. History is more than a recounting of the actions of great men, though credit is due to the author for including brief passages on women and also dipping his toes into cultural waters with discussions of Latin American novelists and poets, though a multitude of other cultural practices are ignored. Overall, Born in Blood and Fire reads like an introductory textbook to Latin American politics that, while deftly tracing the history of Latin American government and to a lesser extent economy, leaves out important components of the large regions history in the form of groups and topics that do not fit Chasteen’s chosen focus.

This book is a good primer for a college freshmen who wants to learn the bare bones about the Indian Ocean. It’s really just a list of events with very little detail filled in about the cultures and societies that made up the Indian Ocean and how they interacted. So if you’re looking for a basic historical narrative this is it, but if you’re looking for a more complex understanding of this oceanic system, look elsewhere.

Though the title would lead you to believe this book focuses on the Atlantic slave trade, this slim volume does not neglect to pay at least some attention to slavery on a global scale. It is a strong introduction to the slave trade, and less so to the nature and conditions of slavery. I would happily assign it for an undergraduate course on slavery – it would also serve as a good review for a graduate student who has little to no experience with the subject. I will be teaching an undergraduate course this semester and plan to use this book as a framing device for my lecture on slavery. Can’t recommend highly enough

This book is a very interesting comparison of the simultaneous Iberian encounters with Mexico and China during the age of European exploration. Gruzinski seeks to explore why the Iberians were able to conquer the Mexicans but failed to even make headway in China, and he does this by exploring the perspective from both sides of the coin, though there is a bit more information on the Chinese than the Mexican, most likely because of a scarcity of sources. This is a great book on which to base a world history class that, while shaped in pat by European actions, equally presents the viewpoint of non-Western actors. Can’t wait to bring the arguments and information in this book before my students and see how they react.

Unfortunately I did not find this book very engaging. It reads just as a description of the sources Wheat used to complete his book. I keep waiting for a narrative or analysis and not much was coming. If you’re looking for what reads close to a primary source on the topics covered, this book will well supplement your reading, but as a history it’s very thin, which is unfortunate because I think it’s a great topic.