Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Account: Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca's Relacion (Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage) by Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca, Jose Fernandez, Virginia Sanchez Korrol, Martin Favata ISBN: 1-55885-060-0 Publisher: Arte Publico Pr Pub. Date: February, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Well written and translated account of early North America
Comment: Although this is a short narrative, the book presents the best description of early North American life I have read so far. The book is Cabeza de Vaca's autobiographical account of his participation in a failed Spanish expedition to colonize Florida in the early 1500's. Through a series of events, the members of the expedition end up traveling along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico into Texas and then overland into Sonora, Mexico. Only four members of the expedition returned to Spanish civilization, but they had earned the respect of many of the Indian tribes.
The Account not only presents details of the journey but also presents general historical aspects of North American Indians and Spanish colonization in the 1500's. Cabeza de Vaca has performed a great service in documenting the practices of food-gathering, agriculture, slavery, trade, and spirituality among the Southwestern Indians. His narrative also highlights the the perils of 1500's exploration and the harsh attitudes of Spanish colonists towards Indians.
The translators also deserve credit for their work. Using clear modern English, they have made The Account easy to read. They have also supplemented their translation with translation notes and histroical notes that are very useful, particularly in identifying locations in the text. Moreover, they have also included an introduction that places The Account and Cabeza de Vaca into a historical context.
In summary, The Account is not only a great narrative of the personal history of Cabeza de Vaca's travels across North America but also an important document about early Spanish colonization and Native American culture. I strongly recommend this book for all readers.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fastinating trip through early Florida
Comment: If you thought that the only thing that the Spanish explorers did was pick up gold and enslave the natives, this book is for you. Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca was truly a modern man in the way he thought about people and things. Given only his wits having lost his clothes & food, he survives in a strange land for 10 years and walks out a reviered man among the natives. I had no idea anyone had done this. Our only regret is that he did not write more of his adventures and the socialogy & language of the people he lived with. Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca had more than the usual dose of Duty, Honor and Country about him, and he kept all three when adversity struck.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Sensational Human Adventure
Comment: In 1527 Cabeza de Vaca was sailing to the "New World" with a Spanish expedition of conquest. As his ship ran aground in rough seas off the coast of Florida strife erupted and his detachment was abandoned, 300 Spaniards in all. Eight years later Cabeza de Vaca and two other Spaniards arrived in Culiacan--the northern most Spanish settlement in Mexico--more than 6,000 miles from their starting point. This book is their harrowing story.
If one considered only the duration of the trip and the circumstances under which it was undertaken, De Vaca's journey would surely rank among the most miraculous tales of human survival ever recorded. And yet that accomplishment is only part of de Vaca's amazing story. For this narrative is much than another story of the human struggle against the apathetic forces of nature, while some aspects of it do indeed have this flavor. On the contrary, Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion represents an extraordinary account of the de Vaca's harrowing encounters with several indigenous tribes, while wandering what is now the Southern US and the cooperative, interdependent relationship which resulted. During De Vaca's travels he and his companions encountered numerous tribes, forging unlikely alliances and friendships. During this journey de Vaca details his self-transformation from conquistador to Indian medicine man.
In addition to supplying invaluable knowledge about a variety of indigenous peoples and their "exotic" customs, de Vaca was also the first to describe the flora and fauna of what is now the Southern United States: Florida, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Even nearly 500 years later, de Vaca's account is still considered an indispensable source of first-hand information on the pre-colonial Southwest.
Ultimately, de Vaca's narrative is the story of teh triumph of simple understanding and human cooperation. For during the eight years of travel, not only did de Vaca come to a greater understanding of himself and his purpose in life, but, more importantly he was one of the first Spaniards to acknowledge the humanity of those he first thought only to be "barbarous savages". It is in the playing out of this cultural dialectic and transformation of one conquistador's colonial consciousness, which is where its most enduring value lies.
--Hayduke66
 |
Title: The Revolt of the Cockroach People by Oscar Zeta Acosta ISBN: 0679722122 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 August, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston ISBN: 0679723285 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville ISBN: 0671028332 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: Plessy v. Ferguson by Brook Thomas ISBN: 0312137435 Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.35 |
 |
Title: The Republic and the Laws: And, the Laws (Oxford World's Classics) by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Jonathan Powell, Niall Rudd ISBN: 0192832360 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
