"a captivating exploration of how "Western Civilization"-the concept of a single cultural inheritance extending from ancient Greece to modern times-is a powerful figment of our collective imagination"--

Fuentes investigates the history of Spain and its influence and shared history with countries of Latin America. The history of Latin America is intertwined with Spain's, whether Spanish America wants it to be or not. (Panama) 520pp (10/2010) ISBN 10-Digit: 6071106141; ISBN 13-Digit: 9786071106148 P BRODART COMPANY, c2010.

Around 10,000 years ago, the small group of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers that had walked the earth for millennia gave way to increasingly complex Neolithic villages of agricultural producers. Around 4,000-5,000 years later, people had gathered in urban settings, established laws, and developed cultural and political systems. This remarkable change took place in Mesopotamia, on the North China plain, in the Indus Valley, in the Nile Valley, on Aegean...