Hello! I am a Spanish Major at the University of California at Santa Barbara and El Cuento by John A. Crow and Edward Dudley was required for an advanced grammar course. I found the content very useful as it not only introduces the reader to prevalent authors and themes in Spanish literature, but familiarizes the reader with how to read the literature and what to look for.

This book is indeed very, very, very long, but I believe that is to be expected if one wants specific details about names, places and events that span 5 centuries. Mr. Crow's style is not as heavy as many historians, and I found the book an easy, if somewhat tedious read.

The author does get a little random in his thought processes later in the book, as though he was trying to meet a deadline, but didn't want to omit a single relevant thought.

The one theme in the book I found striking was Crow's seemingly constant need to act as an apologist for the Catholic church's role in the conquest and consolidation of the New World. He sometimes tries to justify the Church's actions before he tells the reader about the actual events, and sometimes he does this afterwards, but he does it pretty consistently. Perhaps he feels the prevailing bias against the Church's role in the conquest requires a little overstatement in the opposite direction, I don't know.

At least there is no effort to distort the facts. The author lays them out, warts and all. He just repeatedly tries to suggest that, well, "Everyone else was doing it, too!"

Another peculiarity I noted was Crow's repeated assertion that there is no racial conflict in Latin America, apparently due to the fact that early Portugese and Spanish explorers and colonists brought none of their countrywomen along, and felt free to mate with as many of the indigenous females as possible.

His book repeatedly makes it clear that the Spanish and Portuguese literally used up the indigenous people without reservation, even as they bred themselves a newer, more hardy race of mestizos, yet he consistently commends the conquerors for being so racially "open-minded". If he means being willing to make use of whatever human lifeforms one can find for breeding stock or beasts of burden, I guess maybe he's right.

Nevertheless, I thought it was good book for anyone seriously in this period of world history, and would recommend it.

My favorite history writer is Barbara Tuchman and I found some similarities between her and Mr. Crow in how they present history. They both bring a lot of the human element to history telling. I particularly enjoyed learning about Brasil's Dom Pedro II, who seems to get generally brushed over in history. One also gets a good feel for how and why the Latin American economic and political structures developed. It is extremely long, which is great for the amateur history buff, but probably not so great for the college student.

He does have some obvious biases and makes a liberal amount of commentaries. His subjectivity is easy to recognize, enjoyable to read, and he often makes some good points. I appreciate that he doesn't hold back on both praise and criticism of significant people or events. I have a much broader understanding of our southern neighbors and plan to read the book again.

I have read this book many times. It was my reference bibile as i majored in Latin American Studies. Although long it is an easy read. Crow does what many other authors fail to accomplish, he maintains his objectivity. It is a good book for non-Latin Americans to gain insight into Latin America. Great book, dedicate a summer to it.