A Cultural History of Spanish America, from Conquest to Independence.

by Mariano Picón Salas, Irving A. Leonard (Translator)

Contents *THE INDIAN LEGACY *THE FIRST IMPACT *THE SPANISH CONQUEST *FROM EUROPEAN TO A MIXED CULTURE *THE COMING OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY *THE BAROQUE OF THE INDIES *BAROQUE LEARNING ISSUES AND BOOKS *EIGHTEENTH CENTURY JESUITIC HUMANISM *EVE OF THE REVOLUTION *SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY *INDEX

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Mariano Federico Picón Salas, was an influential Venezuelan diplomatic, cultural critic and writer of the 20th century. Among his books, his collection of essays on history, literary criticism and cultural history are remarkable. He travelled a lot through the Americas. His work is also important because of his wide perspective, studying the culture of the entire continent. He left Venezuela, under the political persecution of dictator Juan Vicente Gómez. Living for a large period in Chile, he studied History gaining the degree of “Profesor de Historia” and later the Doctorate on Philosophy and Letters.
He came back to Venezuela in 1936, working as a professor and author. He founded the Asociación de Escritores de Venezuela (Writers Association from Venezuela), and worked for the Ministry of Education.
His studies on "Barroco de Indias" (the term that he coined to talk about the baroque from Hispanic America) are very influential among the general study of Baroque.
He received the National Prize for Literature in 1954. He taught at Columbia University, New York.