In September 1532, eleven years after the Spanish conquest, Mexico is in meltdown. As the conquistadors discover an earthly paradise, its peoples and their Gods are destroyed. This is a time of greed, uncertainty - and idealism. Despairing at his surroundings, Vasco de Quiroga - a new member of the Spanish ruling council - forges a commune on Mexico City's outskirts. Indigenous peoples flock there, and soon a new society exists, complete with a welfare system and a hospital. What distinguishes Quiroga's project is that he ...
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In September 1532, eleven years after the Spanish conquest, Mexico is in meltdown. As the conquistadors discover an earthly paradise, its peoples and their Gods are destroyed. This is a time of greed, uncertainty - and idealism. Despairing at his surroundings, Vasco de Quiroga - a new member of the Spanish ruling council - forges a commune on Mexico City's outskirts. Indigenous peoples flock there, and soon a new society exists, complete with a welfare system and a hospital. What distinguishes Quiroga's project is that he uses Thomas More's recently published book, Utopia, as his blueprint. As Toby Green researches Quiroga's biography in Spain and Mexico, he begins to sense an eerie resonance between Quiroga's age and our own. Based on archival research, and rich with vivid reconstructions of 16th-century Spain and Mexico, the narrative becomes a biography not only of Quiroga, but also of utopia as both an idea and a literary form.
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Add this copy of Thomas More's Magician: a Novel Account of Utopia in to cart. $11.46, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Orion Publishing Group.
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Seller's Description:
New. New. No dust jacket as issued. BRAND NEW. Never read or opened. No remainder mark. First printing. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 404 p. Contains: Illustrations. Phoenix Paperback Series. Audience: General/trade.
This book reflects on the potential for living a life in the space between ruin and possibility, and how one person moved into such a space. Vasco de Quiroga invested the best years of his long and productive life after standing up inside the core of a powerful, militaristic global empire to address the misery and suffering that he himself and his society had imposed on indigenous lives.
Quiroga's hospital communities on the outskirts Tenochtitlan/ Mexico City and among the Purepecha people of Michoacan brought hope and healing in the wake of the carnage and devastation of the conquistadors constant expansion of their realms. Was he "perfect", did he manage to escape the context of his times, laws and customs? Certainly not. But was he committed, and amazingly caring and consistent in his devotion to those around him? Equally, certainly, yes. Worth a deep read and much reflection.
