Anacaona

For Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I post about Anacaona, the first Native woman chieftain known to resist the Spanish invasion and conquest of the Americas. Traditional depictions of Anacaona relate her preeminent stature as a poet; her uncommon beauty and allure; her...

Dispelling the Myth of Taíno Docility

Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold depicts the war between Columbus and Chief Caonabó in 1495 and Columbus’s subjugation of a significant portion of “Española” by the spring of 1498, largely the chiefdoms of Marien, Magua, and Maguana. But much of Española then...

Dawn of Caribbean Colonialism

Leading book review firms and U.S. and Dominican scholars praise Isabel, Anacaona & Columbus’s Demise: 1498–1502 Retold for its depiction of the beginning of Caribbean colonialism. Advance reviews include: “Deeply researched, devastating novel of the dawn of...

Las Casas and Montesinos

I finish posting about my recent research trips to Spain and the Dominican Republic with photos of monuments commemorating two famous Spaniards who decried conquest tyranny and fought for the rights of Indians in the New World, Bartolomé de Las Casas and Antonio de...