Berrigan, Daniel. The Mission: A Film Journal. San Francisco: Harper & Rowe, 1986.
Berrigan was hired as a consultant to Jeremy Irons in matters pertaining to the Order of Jesus (Jesuits). He also plays one of Father Gabriel’s loyal Brothers at the mission. Berrigan’s poetic journal of the experience adds another perspective to the story.
Bindoff, S. T., Tudor England. Baltimore: Penguin Books, Ltd. 1950.
1 used Bindoff to straighten out my confusion of the sixteenth and seventeenth European heads of state. They had annoying habits of marrying each other and naming their children all the same names.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nu–ez, Relación, in The Account: ¡lvar Nu–ez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación an Annotated Translation, by Martin A. Favata and Jose B. Fernandez. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1993.
Written a few years after his return to Spain, Cabeza de Vaca’s memories of his adventure in the New World are amazing, readable and historically important. It is not difficult to find those sections of the Account from which the film is created. Use of the text also underscores the incredulous amazement the Europeans had upon encountering the cultures so different from anything they had ever imagined. The language is old fashioned, but even middle school students will be able to figure out in discussion what events he is describing.
Clark, Kenneth, A History of Civilization. New York: Harper & Rowe, 1969.
Clark is a classic of work about the history of art and culture of the western world, but he seems to have been in error on the facts of the Aguirre story. Stick to his knowledge of Europe. There were better records.
Dominguez Ortiz, Antonio, Alfonso E Pérez Sánchez and Julián Gállego, Velázquez. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.
An art book with good color of the prints. Velázquez is reminiscent of Michaelangelo with editorial comment. His works are beautiful. His career was long and varied. Kids like Velázquez, and they understand and respect his paintings of the
fantasticos
of the Spanish court, one of the more bizarre degradations of humanity.
Elliot, J.H., Imperial Spain: 1469-1716. London: Penguin, 1963.
Self explanatory; a good source for what it says it is.
“The Elusive Quetzal. “ National Geographic, Volume 193, Number 6, June 1998. pp 34-45.
The Quetzal, the bird of Aztec mythology, is becoming endangered by the disappearance of its habitat in Mesoamerica.
@Ref:Fehrenbach, T. R., Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.
1 am disappointed by the patronizing tone Fehrenbach displays in his discussion of Mexican USA relations. He clearly does not love the Mexican people, however much he is interested in their history.
Hodge, Jessica, Salvador Dalí. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1994.
Surrealist great Dal’ leaves American adults bewildered. Kids are sometimes less careful of the thin line between concrete and imaginary. Have some fun with clocks that slide. Investigate the illusive nature of time. But watch out. Dal’ uses bodies in unusual ways too. The next page might be rated R in middle school
Hudson, W. H., Green Mansions. New York: Dover Press, 1989.
Originally published in 1909, Green Mansions has gone out of fashion. It is a typical nineteenth century romance, mysterious setting, beautiful girl, a little magic. I loved it when I was young but I don’t know anyone younger than thirty who has read it.
Innes, Hammond, The Conquistadors. New York: Knopf, 1969.
Photographs of jade masks and Machu Picchu capture the splendor of the ancient American civilizations. Innes has done an excellent job tracing the routes of the various conquistadors. A good book to use with kids: pictures on every page.
Mason, J. Alden, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1964.
Classic, both detailed and readable. The Andean civilizations were as many layered as Mesoamerica. Their destruction was even more callous than that of Mexico.
Mattheison, Peter, At Play in the Fields of the Lord. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
I had read the book long before the movie came out, and I found the movie enriched my understanding. Mattheison is echoing The Heart of Darkness, themes of good and overwhelming evil. It’s a good read, intense and well written, but you can understand the movie without the book.
Mendes, Chico, Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in His Own Words. (Additional material by Tony Gross). London: Latin American Bureau, 1990.
A collection of Mendes’ speeches and writings, this is a useful tool to introduce The Burning Season.
Minta, Stephen, Aguirre: the Recreation of a Sixteenth Century Journey Across South America. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1993.
A great deal of research went into the creation of this very readable historical novel.
Myers, A.R., England in the Late Middle Ages (1307-1536). Baltimore: Penguin Books, Ltd. 1952.
Once again, a resource for who married whom and governed which in Europe.
“The Orinoco River: Into the Heart of Venezuela.” National Geographic, Volume 193, Number 4, April, 1998, pp 2-3 1.
Gold miners and malaria threaten the life of the Yanomani.
Pendle, George, A History or Latin America. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963.
I find I use these general dry histories frequently for details as I research new information.
Rogers, Jeannette. “Latin American Short Fiction,” YNHTI 1997, Volume 1, No. 7.
I wrote a detailed account of my life with the Filartiga’s, the family of One Man’s War. The movie will be much more meaningful if you have read this background information, personal though it may be.
Rogers Gaffney, Jeannette, “Dividing the Spoils: Portugal and Spain in South America.” YNHTI 1992, Volume 11, Number 6.
In this curriculum I wrote a detailed history of the treaties leading up to The Mission. It was confusing, because several treaties were made, and some were not enforced for some time. The result is that it is not completely clear which treaty is being investigated by Rome. It was a two hundred year conflict between Spain and Portugal, finally resolved in the 20th century War of Triple Alliance when Brazil, Argentina and Standard Oil redrew the boundaries of Paraguay, and killed eighty per cent of Paraguayan men between fifteen and eighty.
Skidmore, Thomas E., and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Another respected North American text which patronize and degrades Mexico, in particular, in her relations with the USA. Why do people chose to write books about cultures they do not respect?