Hierarchy, Commerce, And Fraud In Bourbon Spanish America: A Postal Inspector'S Expose

Using El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes (the "Guide for Blind Rovers" by Alonso Carrio de Lavandera, the best known work of the era) as a jumping off point for a sprawling discussion of 18th-century Spanish America, Ruth Hill argues for a richer, more nuanced understanding of the relationship between Spain and its western colonies. Armed with primary sources including literature, maps, census data, letters, and diaries, Hill reveals a rich world of intrigue and artifice, where identity is surprisingly fluid and always in question. More importantly, Hill crafts a complex argument for reassessing our understanding of race and class distinctions at the time, with enormous implications for how we view conceptions of race and class today.

• | Author: Ruth Hill
• | Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• | Publication Date: June 15, 2021
• | Number of Pages: 408 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0826501524
• | ISBN-13: 9780826501523