Two recommendations:
Our Lady Peace -"Innocent"
huffy_chan has shared Raine Maida vids in her blogs a lot lately and via those, I ended up listening to all my old (post)grunge favourites (Audioslave, OLP, Stabbing Westward, Unwritten Law etc). Especially this song warms my disoriented and confused heart at the moment.
Andres Resendez "A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca"
EXCELLENT BOOK IS EXCELLENT. I can't use too many capslocks to emphasize this :D It's a study of Alvas Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a man of four that survived a Florida expedition in the early 1520s. After wandering around in the unknown lands of Florida, Mexico and Central America, the four finally made their way back to the civilization. I love stories of true history when they have been represented as... "stories", with "characters". Everything about the book is as true as it can be, considering it has been written hundreds of years after the expedition, but it has been presented so in a fascinating way that I've read almost hundred pages in mere four or five hours. Resendez tells insightfully, resourcefully and entertainingly about the difficulties about exploring a new continent, and fixes many misunderstandings about the "finding of America". Especially in America it seems that the history taught at schools is quite different from the actual truth. For example, the importance of Hernan Cortez has been stressed a bit too much, forgetting about such important and powerful figures as Diego Velazquez and Panfilio Narvaez.
Also, what I found intriguing was that usually, people refer to North America as a continet that was scarcely populated and its nature was in a "virgin state" when the explorers and voyageers ventured there in the 1600-1800. It is often said that the Indians weren't strong or clever enough to take advantage of the land. However, as Resendez explains in the Introduction, when the Spaniards and Portuguese landed South and Central Americas starting from 1400, the diseases and bacteria they carried spred so quickly that the epidemics reached even North America and made entire tribes and nations of people perish before the Europeans had even seen them; the continent had used to be rich with different Indian tribes but by the time the Europeans actually got there, many of the Indians had died and nature had reclaimed the land, making it seem like there never had been much people in the first place. Cabeza de Vaca, who wandered there lost and desiring to get back to the Spaniards, saw a glimpse of this already destroying culture.
So, it's a wonderful book full of exciting details about conquistadors and their power struggles. It has some stories about the monarchy of Spain as well, and a long-ish description about the Sevilla of Age of Expeditions. If you happen to run into the book in a bookstore or in a library, check it out, definitely if you're into history. It's a fantastic story.
Click to viewhuffy_chan has shared Raine Maida vids in her blogs a lot lately and via those, I ended up listening to all my old (post)grunge favourites (Audioslave, OLP, Stabbing Westward, Unwritten Law etc). Especially this song warms my disoriented and confused heart at the moment.
Andres Resendez "A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca"
EXCELLENT BOOK IS EXCELLENT. I can't use too many capslocks to emphasize this :D It's a study of Alvas Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a man of four that survived a Florida expedition in the early 1520s. After wandering around in the unknown lands of Florida, Mexico and Central America, the four finally made their way back to the civilization. I love stories of true history when they have been represented as... "stories", with "characters". Everything about the book is as true as it can be, considering it has been written hundreds of years after the expedition, but it has been presented so in a fascinating way that I've read almost hundred pages in mere four or five hours. Resendez tells insightfully, resourcefully and entertainingly about the difficulties about exploring a new continent, and fixes many misunderstandings about the "finding of America". Especially in America it seems that the history taught at schools is quite different from the actual truth. For example, the importance of Hernan Cortez has been stressed a bit too much, forgetting about such important and powerful figures as Diego Velazquez and Panfilio Narvaez.
Also, what I found intriguing was that usually, people refer to North America as a continet that was scarcely populated and its nature was in a "virgin state" when the explorers and voyageers ventured there in the 1600-1800. It is often said that the Indians weren't strong or clever enough to take advantage of the land. However, as Resendez explains in the Introduction, when the Spaniards and Portuguese landed South and Central Americas starting from 1400, the diseases and bacteria they carried spred so quickly that the epidemics reached even North America and made entire tribes and nations of people perish before the Europeans had even seen them; the continent had used to be rich with different Indian tribes but by the time the Europeans actually got there, many of the Indians had died and nature had reclaimed the land, making it seem like there never had been much people in the first place. Cabeza de Vaca, who wandered there lost and desiring to get back to the Spaniards, saw a glimpse of this already destroying culture.
So, it's a wonderful book full of exciting details about conquistadors and their power struggles. It has some stories about the monarchy of Spain as well, and a long-ish description about the Sevilla of Age of Expeditions. If you happen to run into the book in a bookstore or in a library, check it out, definitely if you're into history. It's a fantastic story.