América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898

by Robert Goodwin

Overview

An epic history of the Spanish empire in North America from 1493 to 1898 by Robert Goodwin, author of Spain: The Centre of the World.

At the conclusion of the American Revolution, half the modern United States was part of the vast Spanish Empire. The year after Columbus's great voyage of discovery, in 1492, he claimed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for Spain. For the next three hundred years, thousands of proud Spanish conquistadors and their largely forgotten Mexican allies went in search of glory and riches from Florida to California. Many died, few triumphed. Some were cruel, some were curious, some were kind. Missionaries and priests yearned to harvest Indian souls for God through baptism and Christian teaching.

Theirs was a frontier world which Spain struggled to control in the face of Indian resistance and competition from France, Britain, and finally the United States. In the 1800s, Spain lost it all.

Goodwin tells this history through the lives of the people who made it happen and the literature and art with which they celebrated their successes and mourned their failures. He weaves an epic tapestry from these intimate biographies of explorers and conquerors, like Columbus and Coronado, but also lesser known characters, like the powerful Gálvez family who gave invaluable and largely forgotten support to the American Patriots during the Revolutionary War; the great Pueblo leader Popay; and Esteban, the first documented African American. Like characters in a great play or a novel, Goodwin's protagonists walk the stage of history with heroism and brio and much tragedy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632867223
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	832,146
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Dr. Robert Goodwin is an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London. His two trade books, Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African-American Explorer of the American South and Spain: The Centre of the World 1519-1682, were published to critical acclaim. He appears on Spanish radio and TV and writes for Spanish newspapers. He lives between London and Seville, where he regularly conducts archival research.

Table of Contents

Preface xv

Timeline: Spanish Monarchs and Mexican Presidents xviii

Introduction: "An Empire upon Which the Sun Never Sets" 1

Prologue: América, 1493 11

Part I Myths, Dreams, and History 19

Introduction to Part One: The Chase & the Catch 21

Chapter 1 "War of Blood and Fire": Puerto Rico 25

Chapter 2 Realms of Gold: Mexico 35

Chapter 3 Fountain of Eternal Youth: La Florida 40

Chapter 4 Amazon Women & Californian Dreams: Baja California 52

Chapter 5 "Naked and Barefoot": The Continent Crossed 59

Chapter 6 The Seven Cities of Cíbola: New Mexico 72

Chapter 7 An Inca's Tale, the Florida: The Deep South 91

Part II The Age of Settlement 107

Introduction to Part Two: Heresy & Godliness 109

Chapter 8 "Hang All the Lutherans": The Atlantic Coast 113

Chapter 9 Poetry & Conquest: New Mexico 126

Chapter 10 God & Government: New Mexico 156

Chapter 11 Po'pay's Pueblo Revolt: New Mexico 170

Chapter 12 Manhunt: Texas 182

Chapter 13 Padre Kino, the Jesuit Southwest: Arizona 192

Chapter 14 Love & the Comanche Dawn: Texas 202

Part III The Bourbon Reforms 217

Introduction to Part Three: A Few Good Men 219

Chapter 15 Los Anza & the Apaches: El Gran Norte 227

Chapter 16 Los Gálvez: California & Sonora 236

Chapter 17 Junípero Serra, Paradise Gained: Alta California 254

Chapter 18 Hard Road to Paradise: Arizona & California 274

Chapter 19 Half a Continent Is Spanish: Louisiana & Alaska 285

Chapter 20 The Governors: Louisiana & New Mexico 296

Chapter 21 "Bernardo de Galvez, Spanish Hero of the American Revolution": The Deep South 317

Part IV Sunset and Perdition 335

Introduction to Part Four: The Ebb Tide 337

Chapter 22 Apogee & Disaster: Canada & Spain 344

Chapter 23 Mexican Independence: New Spain & Mexico 356

Chapter 24 Nemesis, Andrew Jackson: Florida 368

Chapter 25 The Alamo & San Jacinto: Texas 381

Chapter 26 The Mexican-American War: Mexico 397

Epilogue: Puerto Rico, 1898 409

Bibliography 418

Notes 451

Index 505

Editorial Reviews

The events and people who figure in these pages of centuries-spanning history are mostly well-known, from Cortés and Cabeza de Vaca to the Alamo, but the author's great strength is to give them layers of meaning that warrant a fresh look . . . recommended for any student of American history.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Goodwin and Gibson] write with verve and can be read with pleasure . . . Goodwin, who revels in set pieces, has the edge in evoking historical personalities, particularly swashbuckling characters. . . a rattling good story.” —The New York Review of Books

“Two new histories on a subject important to New Mexicans – indeed, to all Americans – are monumental in their scope, accessible and enlightening in their narratives. . . One history is Robert Goodwin's 'América.'” —The Albuquerque Journal

“Goodwin adopts a page-turning style to convey the sheer magnitude of Spain in this period.” —Library Journal on SPAIN

“A highly readable account of the birth of the first global superpower.” —The Economist on SPAIN

“A bright, wide-ranging chronicle of the golden age of the Spanish empire . . . Any student of the Renaissance should read this excellent work showing Spain's enormous impact on the arts and, with her vast American empire, the world.” —Kirkus Reviews on SPAIN, "Best Books of 2015"

“This is history as it should be but so rarely is. It is told through lives lived, written out of passion, as well as deep knowledge. Goodwin makes English dance a flamenco; sometimes his prose whirls like a Dervish; sometimes it cuts like a surgeon's knife; it is never dull, though it knows when it needs to be measured.” —David Starkey on SPAIN

“What distinguishes Goodwin from other historians of the period is the sheer multiplicity of his perspectives. He is erudite and concise in covering familiar ground, while full of original insight when it comes to the motives and actions of the key players . . . [I]t is not enough to bring truth to history. One must also bring life—and this book has it in golden abundance.” —The Spectator on SPAIN

From the Publisher

2019-01-15

Goodwin (Spain: The Center of the World, 1519-1682, 2015, etc.), a research fellow at University College London, delivers a broad account of Spain's North American empire and its key players.

The events and people who figure in these pages of centuries-spanning history are mostly well-known, from Cortés and Cabeza de Vaca to the Alamo, but the author's great strength is to give them layers of meaning that warrant a fresh look. It's not a standard question in a standard history, for instance, to wonder how Spain gave the conquistadors more or less free rein to act as individual agents while at the same time reining them in to serve the interests of the Spanish Crown. To this end, writes Goodwin, who divides his time between London and Seville, Spain established the office of the Adelantado, which means something like the person who goes ahead against any opposition, an office that "perfectly reflects the individualism that was the foundation of the whole imperial enterprise." Against this understanding of the "imperial enterprise," in which a wide array of characters served God and king while seeking to grow rich, individual figures such as De Soto and Coronado stand out, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The author's description of the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez is a case in point: Though Bartolomé de Las Casas depicted him as a murderer, he grudgingly allowed that Narváez had manners, a way with words, and a sparkling intelligence, which makes Goodwin's account of his demise all the more poignant as, shipwrecked on the coast of Texas, "a north freezing wind blew the pitiful invalid out to sea, never to be heard of again." The author packs a huge amount of information and observation into a relatively small space, though the last couple of dozen pages gallop heedlessly from the Alamo to San Juan Hill; it might have been better to end with Mexican independence, though one hopes that the cursory overview signals a more circumstantial book to come.

Recommended for any student of American history.

Kirkus Reviews