...Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr. Gift of the Devil: A History of Guatemala . By Handy Jim . Boston : South End Press , 1985 . Map. Notes. Index . Pp. 319 . Paper. $10.00 . Copyright 1986 by Duke University Press 1986 Not since Chester Lloyd Jones’s Guatemala, Past and Present...

... research, the present volume aims at a comprehensive understanding of this “intrinsic gift.” Chávez (director of the Palace of the Governors in the New Mexican museum system) frames the Spanish contribution broadly, moving from affairs in western Europe to address the full American theater—although...

...Susan G. Polansky Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World . By Norton Marcy . Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press , 2008 . Illustrations. Maps. Tables. Notes. Glossary. Index . xiv , 339 pp. Cloth , $35.00 . Copyright 2010...

... of Weber’s more fascinating themes is the shifting cultural line between gift-giving and bribery. Among kin-based societies like the Comanches, “The bestowing of gifts, which increased the status of the giver, often established an alliance or a familial relationship — a ‘fictive kinship,’ and the receipt...

... an alliance between them. Johan Maurits eventually gilded the plate, added some personal inscriptions, and gave it to the Calvinist church of Siegen, where it still can be found. In this chapter, the author also stresses how important gifts had become for forging alliances with different indigenous tribes...

... doggedly sustained “substantive mutuality,” “that cluster of ideas, actions, and commitments anchored in gift, reciprocity, and redistribution binding societies across time” (p. 2). He details the erosion of substantive mutuality in European philosophical thought and Paraguayan colonial society and its...

... by the crown in times of financial need. Extraordinary loans, donativos (gifts), and services requested from Spanish vassals have been the subject of much controversy because they epitomized Spanish intrusion and preying on vassals' and colonies' wealth. Guillermina del Valle Pavón's Negociación, lágrimas y...

.... Indigenous leaders in Florida, arguably as formidable as Opechancanough, chose to ally with the presidio, extracting gifts from a fund for gastos de indios (Indian expenses). In exchange, caciques sent workers to the presidio. In 1612, Florida's Franciscans informed Felipe III that distributing gifts won...

... property to marry and establish themselves, yet parents typically channeled the necessary property through their daughters and not through their sons. Only 3 out of 35 families with adult sons had given gifts of property to those sons during their parents’ lifetime. In contrast, daughters never went...

... while others are fated to receive a special gift for curing, singing, and ceremonial leadership. Such gifts are conferred only on exceptional men who prove their dedication by serving their people and their gods. This concept of divine destiny is one of the most pervasive themes in Indian religion...

... understood. The first grant dates from 1386 and involves the gift of certain rights from king Dom João I to Martim Vasquez, whom he calls “our vassal.” In this charter, the king makes, not a feudal grant in return for specified services, but rather a “pure and free” gift, inter vivos , “valid...

.... The chapter “Policy of Presents” contains lists of goods procured and distributed, and amounts authorized for purchasing gifts, as well as the pros and cons of making gifts to Indians. The book is preceded by a brief general introduction identifying the principal themes illustrated by the documents...

... a second English translation. Dr. Antonio de Morga (1559-1636) was an energetic, gifted and versatile bureaucrat who served under three kings in the audiencias of the Philippines, Mexico, and Quito. Pious and sensual, petty and gifted with vision, his career represents some of the strengths...

..., and Aníbal Galindo possessed uncommon discernment and force. Out of the forgotten pages of the Memoria de Hacienda , he extracted significant facts, ideas, and quotations, showing that Colombia’s nineteenth century was as intelligible as colonial times and was endowed also with deeds and writings of gifted...

... the grand manner. Roca’s career is not set against the burgeoning economic and cultural development of a newly-consolidated Argentina. The reader will not find here the subtle and complex interplay between individual and events. Newton announces the thesis that Roca, a gifted soldier, was an even more...

... to other people's ideas. Above all, the author of Nibble the Squirrel had a gift of imagination that a great historian needs: imagination, disciplined by evidence, was essential, he always maintained, both for dialogue amid differences of opinion and for those conversations with the dead that historians...

... community well-being. Gift exchange helps households meet resource needs at critical times during the festival cycle and creates a sense of interdependency and alliance among the participating households. The author argues that mayordomo positions within the cargo system also perform important economic...

...-century Cartagena exporters such as the Portuguese Jew Manuel de Fonseca Enríquez, who likely shipped emeralds to Lisbon and Amsterdam. From there, the stones were “sucked into the gift economies of South and southwestern Asia” (p. 144). He and his colleagues then invested the profits in consumer goods...

... eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, sometimes for negotiations and at other times for permanent refuge but almost always with an eye to seeking Spanish protection against the English. Creek visitors expected lavish gifts that island authorities, however reluctantly, always decided to give as a way...