A short account of the destruction of the Indies
by Bartolomé de las Casas · first published 1992
92% recommend8% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A first-hand, eyewitness account of Spanish atrocities against Indigenous peoples in the Americas, written by a contemporary friar. It conveys the scale of the conquest's human cost.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Which kinds of fiction? And which kinds of non-fiction? Only pop contemporary? For an anecdotal example, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is an account by a priest of what was happening in the New World. There's not much filler there. Three Felonies a Day by Silvergate doesn't have prolix filler I can discern. Chris Hedges and the late…
on “Ask HN: Have you stopped reading books?” ↗…intellectually and reveal the full history of why it is suboptimal. 2 books worth reading: 1. "The People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn 2. Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies) 1552 by Bartolomé de las Casas. If you thought the slave trade in the British Colonies was brutal, the Heart of Darkness-like massacre of indigenous peoples by the Spanish was akin to the Cambodian genocide…
on “Protest song vanishes from Spotify, Apple Music ahead of government ban” ↗…can’t read between them either. Here’s 3: Collapse by Jared Diamond The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (English: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies ) by Bartolomé de las Casas
on “Ask HN: What is your comfort book?” ↗A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Original title: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) 1552, Bartolomé de las Casas. The genocide by the Spanish of directly and indirectly ~110M indigenous peoples and African slaves in…
on “Ask HN: What book bit, stung and shook you deeply?” ↗| Actual historical accounts tell something much closer to the the original story we knew as children Anyone who thinks this is remotely true should read A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas.
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1551) slightly later leaves out the lionization and describes the atrocities and abuse of natives and imported slaves. It should be required reading as it was driven by greed without morality on multiple…
on “Conquest of the Incas” ↗…down 2000 natives, erects a church at the Incan capital of Cuzco, and proselytises the entire kingdom. Don't read the garbage Wikipedia article on it. Instead read Spanish Friar Bartolme de las Casas' A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Then juntas were formed. The Spanish empire was spread thin. Dutch Revolt. The Napoleonic Wars? British West Indian labour unrest? These researchers should look up the word PROSELYTISM. They seem to…
on “Birth of the Moralizing Gods” ↗Check out more history of natives' genocides in the Americas: ==== "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" - Paperback https://amzn.to/2dnhEhE - Kindle https://amzn.to/2dngoLi ---- "The Conquest of New Spain" - Hardcover https://amzn.to/2duUoKt - Kindle https://amzn.to/2d1NWyU
on “Descendants of Newfoundland’s “extinct” Beothuk Live on in Iceland (2011)” ↗Also "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" will churn the stomach almost as much as the stories of the rise of the Ottoman Empire by (sssh redacted religion) piles of heads or the accounts of the Armenian Genocide.
on “War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler (1933)” ↗Must reads about what was done to South America: - Various works by Smedley Butler, c. 20th c. - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Español: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias), c. 1542 - The well-researched videos of TheHistoryGuy on YT. Bunga! Bunga!
on “A letter to Steven Pinker about global poverty” ↗…https://archive.org/details/war_is_a_racket_1903_librivox/wa... Another book I would recommend is Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1542) which has been translated into English as A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. It’s a must read to know the scale of the Spanish rape, pillaging and genocide of native American and imported African slaves. I also go to libraries to see what they have for physical and electronic…
on “Ask HN: Are books worth it?” ↗…is to read books that are important, not just ones that are preferred or pleasant for a wider perspective: - Mein Kampf - Capital (Das Kapital) - Technological Slavery - The International Jew - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. 1-6. - (ones by ideological opposites) - America: The Farewell Tour - Sorrows of Empire Also, people who don't own any books, paper…
on “Writing books is not really a good idea” ↗Nothing needs to be destroyed or reinvented, only returned to common-sense and integrity. There are essentially no new ideas. - Everyman's Library Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is worth having. - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies / Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias is another title important to understand what happened in the Americas as well as slaves taken from Africa. - Other titles by: Aristotle, Sartre,…
on “The Books We Can Use to Rebuild Civilization” ↗…Kampf - Atlas Shrugged - (numerous critiques of objectivism and its political-economic brand: libertarianism) - Critique of Pure Reason - The Social Contract - Industrial Society and Its Future - A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Guns, Germs, and Steel == And some fiction === - Howl - Tropic of Cancer - Four Past Midnight (yes, Stephen King) - Maus
on “Stanford student may need to ‘acknowledge harm’ for reading ‘Mein Kampf’” ↗A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is much better in terms of reflecting the human cost from a contemporary of the obliteration of 150 million natives and Africans for the enrichment of Europeans. US Americans eventually got into the act…
on “Open Veins of Latin America Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent [pdf]” ↗