Book review: Children of the Days by Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano chronicles events and anniversaries from the history of oppressed nations, adding the odd dash of philosophical musing and fictional fun.
by Eduardo Galeano (translated by Mark Fried)
Allen Lane
2 and a half stars
Ian Sansom
Eduardo Galeano chronicles events and anniversaries from the history of oppressed nations, adding the odd dash of philosophical musing and fictional fun.
This book comprises 365 sad and strange and shiny little fragments, placed adjacent to one another to form a seemingly coherent whole.
All of Galeano's usual obsessions are vividly represented here: US imperialism, the pharmaceutical industry, western governments, the military, the church, advertising, business, Hollywood.
The entry for February 29 reads: "In routine fashion, on 29 February Hollywood gave nearly all of its awards, eight Oscars, to Gone with the Wind, which was a long sigh of nostalgia for the good old days of slavery."
The death of Winston Churchill on January 24 is marked sourly with an excerpt from his statement to the Palestine Royal Commission in 1937: "I do not admit that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia … by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race … has come in and taken their place."