Indian Labor in the Spanish Indies. Was There Another Solution?

For D. C. Heath’s new Problems in Latin American Civilization series, John F. Bannon has assembled readings on Indian labor. He combines a judicious number of contemporary documents (e.g., the Laws of Burgos and sections of Las Casas ’ Brevísima Relación) with selections from such modern commentators as Lewis Hanke, L. B. Simpson, Silvio Zavala, and Charles Gibson. This will be one of the better “problem books” for undergraduate courses in Latin American history. Still, I would like to have seen something on the debate at Valladolid. Perhaps Father Bannon felt that we have overdone the “controversial controversy,” but a book on Bartolomé de las Casas without Sepulveda is like running a Krazy Kat cartoon without Offissa Pup.