A review by bjaimes
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Wowee this book is an impressive accomplishment. I don’t know if any other authors/historians could have covered so much ground in under 300 pages. 

Apart from standard descriptions of Latin American colonialism and plunder, Galeano really shines in the later sections on neocolonialism. If you didn’t already hate the IMF, you will find no shortage of reasons to hate them here! I also particularly liked that Galeano did not shy away from describing the loopholes and mechanisms that the Western bourgeoisie use to exploit Latin America. It’s essential we understand that US hegemony is not solely enforced through hard conflict, but also through waging soft warfare through economic policy. 

Galeano does all of this with a writing style that flows seamlessly from one idea to the next! Despite the book mainly being about political economy, it maintains its readability and accessibility throughout. There are also an abundance of short, poetic phrases woven into the text that i love, for example: 

“‘Aid’ works like the philanthropist who put a wooden leg on his piglet because he was eating it bit by bit”

This is a great timeline of Latin America for anyone who wants to understand the history  of its economic subjugation. Although Galeano doesn’t prescribe solutions, it seems he advocates for revolution in one way or another! It leaves me with the following questions: 

• What is our duty as Americans living within the belly of the beast? 
• Can Latin America ever be free without the dismantling of western imperialism? (Probably not lol)