I appreciated the structure of this book - the history of the Americas as it has been shaped by three forces: exploitation (silver), violence (sword), and religion (stone). These three categories clearly are significant forces that have shaped the continent and a nicely organized way to understand its past and present. Within each section, the author tells the story of a current inhabitant or family exemplifies that theme's impact on the present day. I found the back-and-forth between the larger history and the present day individual somewhat jarring. It didn't quite work for me. Nevertheless, an important historical work that would be interesting to anyone wanting to learn more about the Americas.

This was different than I expected but I really enjoyed the novel and historical information contained in the book. It was a tougher read but still a great one for information not typically known it seems! I’ve never heard of it prior! Highly recommend.

I am not able to upload my review until tomorrow, August 27, 2019 which is the same date as the scheduled archiving of this title. My review will appear online at NPR.org on August 27, 2019.

This book was just fascinating. It took me a little longer to read than I though it would, but to be fair it's a hefty book and I wanted to savor it a little bit. This book was neatly organized by the author into three categories: Silver (greed over natural resources), Sword (the history with brutality), and Stone (religion). These are the three motivations for much of the turmoil and strife that has happened throughout Latin America's history. Each section is thoroughly covered in it's own right, but it is also great how the author picks a person to make them seem all the more relevant. The author balances educational writing and readability really well. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is interested in history or in Latin America.

After reading Silver, Sword, and Stone by Marie Arana, I just had to sit down for a while and let it sink in, something I had to do many times throughout the book as well. I picked up this book because my fiance's family is Hispanic and I wanted to learn more about Latin America. I like how Arana set up this book in three sections - Silver (greed over natural resources), Sword (brutality) and Stone (religion) - three motivations that are the cause of many invasions by colonizers at that time. While she focuses on each of those on their own, she also shows how they all intertwine with each other. Using an actual person for each section and how their lives were affected by these themes makes this book feel even more relevant. Arana wrote about many different countries and significant people in them, but every time you thought "Here is someone who will do the right thing for this country!" you are proven wrong again. Time and again, she shows how a mixture of silver, sword and/or stone corrupts the leaders that once thought themselves the healers of their countries. This book was shocking, educational, and eye-opening. I highly recommend it if you want to know more about Latin America's history.

I enjoyed using the three tiered structure to outline a comprehensive but readable history of Latin America. The mentions of the scientific idea that trans can imprint on DNA first mentioned in the second section then a few times later seemed out of place. But, otherwise, informative and interesting.

Marie Arana has been able to mark out three key themes that can successfully thread all the way through Latin American history up to the present era, and when woven together effectively sum up the region’s last several hundred years. Not only that, but she pulls this off without turning the history of several nations into an oversimplification. In fact, each section of this incredibly well-researched book is quite rich with information, but never in a dense fashion that can make a reader lose track as they follow one of the three threads of religion, exploitation and violence. This is largely in part due to Arena’s clever formatting of the book around a trio of well-chosen individuals whose lives exemplify the three driving forces. The amount of detailed history packed here is definitely more than enough to deepen a reader’s grasp of the tumultuous past of this part of the world, but not enough to ever overwhelm.

“Silver, Sword and Stone,” in short, is an excellent distillation of the Latin American experience.