Richard Gott (1) (1938–)

Events in Fidel Castro’s island nation often command international attention and just as often inspire controversy. Impassioned debate over situations as diverse as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Eli#65533;n Gonz#65533;les affair is characteristic not only of modern times but of centuries of Cuban history. In this concise and up-to-date book, British journalist Richard Gott casts a fresh eye on the history of the Caribbean island from its pre-Columbian origins to the present day. He provides a European perspective on a country that is perhaps too frequently seen solely from the American point of view. The author emphasizes such little-known aspects of Cuba’s history as its tradition of racism and violence, its black rebellions, the survival of its Indian peoples, and the lasting influence of Spain. The book also offers an original look at aspects of the Revolution, including Castro’s relationship with the Soviet Union, military exploits in Africa, and his attempts to promote revolution in Latin America and among American blacks. In a concluding section, Gott tells the extraordinary story of the Revolution’s survival in the post-Soviet years.… (more)

British Empire’s Oppression to Epidemic Violence.

The history of the foundation of the British empire, and the forgotten story of resistance to its formation.

The honesty of this intellectual conscience page after page so is an excellent book. British aggression worldwide since the eighteenth century still reaches into our time. The storm caused by this book in the media indicates that Gott's book has touched a raw nerve after the publication of this book resistance against repression with revolt" holds clear answers against mass media like television or newspapers that hold this history from 1990 with help of the U.E. and USA, for the countries that the British military invaded, the "Glorious" Empire holds no romance. Many had their populations decimated to the point of extinction, an earlier version of what the 20th century Nazis termed 'Vernichtung.' of Tribal cultures.… (more)

The trip I was reading this to prep for didn't happen, and the book itself is... probably a pretty good historical overview up to the 21st century, but I have always had a tough time reading historical overviews. Men leading armies and redrawing lines on maps and pushing money around bores me; I need an angle. I may still read [b:Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause|3216410|Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba The Biography of a Cause|Tom Gjelten|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1440013662s/3216410.jpg|3250343] -- that's a great angle.… (more)

(Original Review, 1993-05-31)

It gives me a lot of pleasure to mention Richard Gott's work "Land Without Evil - Utopian Journey Across the South American Watershed."

Whilst I did not intend to get mixed up with the Watershed on account of its complexity, his endeavor to go up the Amazon all the way to (probably) the Pacific, in the 1970s, was almost as much of an adventure then as it was for the 16th C conquistadores.

My preferred sea lane would certainly have been across the Panama isthmus and down the Pacific coast. Dealing with half a dozen tribes or nations, was surely much easier than with half a dozen 1000s of highly bred/inbred tribes, the latter being the case going up the Amazon as a traffic lane; far too many traffic islands! I have been distracted from my purpose, which is really the remaining tribes, and one indigenous 'nation' of Argentina, but it has been very instructive indeed, about how to write/research a geographical history. Answer? Go for the churches every time! Go for the personalities of those churches, and without allowing you to guess, that they were Jesuits, in vast numbers, as well as Spanish government appointed administrators.

Had the Jesuits prevailed beyond the 18th C, revolutionaries of an entirely different ilk, might well have had little internationalism (i.e., the subcontinent's political unity) to think about. As it is, the small world we live in, provides excellent resources to create international organisation, to represent all south American nations in the big wide world. Those nation states..... Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and so on, were founded by partnership, with the already warring tribal 'nations', frequently by servitude and slavery.

I do know the history of the foundation of the nation of my own nation, Portugal, well enough, to be able to ascertain whether the spoils of empire caused the divisions of the Iberian peninsula; or maybe Brazil became definitively Portuguese on account of the conflicts in Spain and Portugal. Bit of both truth be told! The date of the Jesuit removal from South America was justified and caused by the kings and queens and history of Western Europe. Quite what Pinochet wanted to thank Mrs. Thatcher for, sitting in a Cafe in Picadilly, heaven only knows. Had he gone a few metres up street to the Ritz, he might well have been greeted by Dennis, who made that his regular haunt for many years. Perhaps he forgot the table gratuity required by tradition, at the door, or perhaps Mr. Corbyn was the door porter that day and determined to set up an extradition proceeding against President P.… (more)