The Americas - a hemispheric history

This book is the first history to be written of the Americas as a whole. With his characteristic range and independence of thought, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto shows us why it is impossible to understand the history of North, Central or South America in isolation. From the first civilisations up to today, the land mass has been bound together in a web of inter-relationships - from migration and trade to religion, culture, food and the spread of political ideas.

For most of history the south was dominant, the north dependent. When the civilisations of the Olmecs, Mayas, Incas and Aztecs were followed by the empires of Spain and Portugal, it seemed that only the dregs were left for the English and the French. Then in the mid eighteenth century parts of North America began the great leap forward that has taken the USA to a position of global dominance.

But gringo privilege is a product of history, not of fate. The present state of the American hemisphere, the author argues, is neither inevitable nor sustainable. The United States is now at the peak of its dominance, and the rest of the Americas are about to begin to catch up.