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.
Bose Ram Chandra 2015-11-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.21 x 1.00 x 6.14l; 1.76 #File Name: 1346688796448 pagesHindu Philosophy Popularly Explained the Heterodox Systems
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