Open Veins of Latin America

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (Spanish: Las venas abiertas de América Latina) is a 1971 book written by Uruguayan journalist, writer, and poet Eduardo Galeano that analyzes the impacts of European settlement, imperialism, and slavery on Latin America. The book was published during the ideological divide caused by the Cold War, when most Latin American countries had brutal, United States-sponsored right-wing dictatorships. Open Veins was banned in several countries and became a reference for an entire generation of left-wing thinkers. In the book, Galeano analyzes the history of the Americas as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region. Throughout the book, Galeano analyses notions of colonialism, imperialism, and the dependency theory. Open Veins illustrates Latin America's resistance literature of the twentieth century, characterized by opposition to imperialism and a heightened Pan-American sentiment. The book has sold over a million copies and been translated into over a dozen languages. It has been included in university courses "ranging from history and anthropology to economics and geography."