"History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'"
April 13, 2015 10:48 AM   Subscribe

Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan chronicler of Latin American history, politics, and football, has died at the age of 74 today in his hometown, Montevideo.

Galeano's best known work, Open Veins of Latin America, analyzes the history of post-Columbian Latin America, from European colonization to modern times. Published in 1971, it was deeply influential in the region, at a time when the American influence was particularly loathed. In the 70s, the book was banned in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, countries that were undergoing military dictatorships at the time.

The book remains highly popular among leftist circles—in 2009, Hugo Chávez gave Barack Obama a copy—, despite that Galeano has recently stated that it's very much a work of its time.

Among football fans, Galeano is also known as the writer of Football in Sun and Shadow, a moving 1995 book about small and big stories around football ("the only religion without atheists," he used to say).
posted by maskd (21 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
I was assigned the first volume of his Memory of Fire trilogy in a college course; I kept it and bought the other two. It remains one of the most galvanizing and eye-opening histories I've ever read.

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posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:54 AM on April 13, 2015 [7 favorites]


Same here, EmpressCallipygos. I had no idea that history books could be written like that.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:59 AM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Memory of Fire is one of the most unique works I've ever read.
posted by wires at 11:05 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:24 AM on April 13, 2015


One of the more fascinating aspects of Uruguayan culture is how antagonistic they are to the concept of celebrity. Like their president Pepe Mujica, who drove himself to work in a vw beetle.

Eduardo Galeano used to write every day in a cafe in Ciudad Vieja, I can't remember which one any more, but there were times when I would go there and get an espresso and he would just be there, in a corner, this titan of literature going about this day while everyone around him went about theirs.

It fascinated me - I had read most of his library, and (being an estadounidenser) had this celebrity like awe of his presence... and yet, no one else even paid attention to him. He was just an old man, writing in a corner, drinking an espresso.

El Futbol a Sol y Sombra is and likely always will be my favorite spanish language book. RIP Senor, y gracias.
posted by special agent conrad uno at 11:31 AM on April 13, 2015 [6 favorites]


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posted by cobra libre at 11:36 AM on April 13, 2015


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I adore Football in Sun and Shadow.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:39 AM on April 13, 2015


I'm so happy—or at least, am feeling bittersweet—that folks here are noting the wonderful Memory of Fire trilogy. Writing the history of the Americas from the perspective of the Americas was, and is, a revolutionary act, and it took me to read it to understand that.

RIP, Eduardo.

Related links:

An interview with Galeano on Democracy Now! from 2006.

posted by migrantology at 11:53 AM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love both Memory of Fire and Football in Sun and Shadow. He'll be missed.
posted by languagehat at 1:15 PM on April 13, 2015


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Just to plug one more book in-thread: the recent Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History (review here) is also well worth checking out. 365 little nuggets of history from the amazingly obscure to the well-known, each recounted charmingly in Galeano's characteristic style and with his usual political vigor and relentless optimism.
posted by RogerB at 1:26 PM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by nikoniko at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2015


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The ranks of the old guard get a little thinner.
I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person.
I have a lot to learn from other people.

posted by adamvasco at 2:08 PM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by ipsative at 2:30 PM on April 13, 2015


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posted by arkham_inmate_0801 at 3:37 PM on April 13, 2015


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posted by pogo at 5:00 PM on April 13, 2015


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posted by allthinky at 5:46 PM on April 13, 2015


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posted by msali at 9:21 PM on April 13, 2015


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posted by trip and a half at 12:10 AM on April 14, 2015


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posted by Mister Bijou at 1:30 AM on April 14, 2015


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"Storytellers. storysingers, only spin their tales while the snow falls. That’s the way it’s done. The Indians of North America are very careful about this matter of stories. They say that while stories are being told, plants don’t pay attention to growing and birds forget to feed their young”
— Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces
posted by jammy at 11:51 AM on April 14, 2015




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