{"product_id":"promiscuous-power-9781477315835","title":"Promiscuous Power","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing the rowdy, raunchy, and violent life histories of the local officials and settlers who first colonized Mexico, this iconoclastic book reveals the inherent difficulties of imposing a colonial order in the Americas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew World historians and others have long recognized disparities between what was decreed by the Spanish Crown and what was actually carried out on the ground. In this book Nesvig substantiates what many of us have long suspected: distance and time allowed for some pretty nefarious characters to operate under the proverbial radar. * SMRC Revista *\u003cbr\u003eAptly Rabelaisian, dense, and intellectually rigorous…[\u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e] recontextualizes so many classics of New Spanish history, that this reader will never teach the history of the sixteenth century in the same way again. * Estudious Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe *\u003cbr\u003eRarely does the nature of the sources match the voice of an author as it does in Nesvig's \u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e…I found Nesvig's stylistic and historiographical irreverence both refreshing and powerful. * Not Even Past *\u003cbr\u003eNesvig shows great knowledge of the literature and sources. The cleverly arranged book illuminates a whole array of—primarily religious—agents and factors that determined local rule [in New Spain]…[\u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e is a] well-written book which not only contains genuinely entertaining stories but also very important insights into the quotidian colonial struggle for power and survival. * Journal of Social History *\u003cbr\u003eA welcome addition to the scholarship on colonial Mexico…The author's careful and detailed research reveals a debilitating rivalry between secular clerics and the religious orders, an Inquisition that fails to frighten most residents in the region, rural towns that sheltered convicted felons, and even priests who behaved more like caudillos than pious community leaders. * American Historical Review *\u003cbr\u003e[\u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e] is a significant entry in the historiography dedicated to undoing the mythic imagery of a monolithic, overly centralized Spanish empire…this is an important book that makes the overtly optimistic see just how brutal, personal, and petty power can be...In our own era of decentralization and personalized expressions of power, \u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e is a book that resonates and disturbs. * Sixteenth Century Journal *\u003cbr\u003e[\u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e] brings sixteenth-century Michoacán to life in a way that few others have done...\u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds in cramming a lot of lust, murder and ambition into its 200-odd pages. Part serious colonial history, part bodice-ripper, part paean to its geographical setting, it lays out a rich spread of colonial life that delights the reader on every page. * Journal of Latin American Studies *\u003cbr\u003e[A] compelling and eminently readable study...Nesvig’s attention to narrative is one of the pleasures of the book. Always a fine writer, the author offers material worthy of Gabriel García Márquez...Nesvig renders his subjects in language that combines erudition and precision with utter vulgarity, all of it rooted in the sources (and translated with citations that make the author’s choices transparent and defensible)...Funny in passages, readable throughout, and a tragedy in the end, this book is a tour de force and a major contribution to our understanding of the individual decisions, passions, and rivalries that constituted colonial rule. * Ethnohistory *\u003cbr\u003eThis superb volume deserves a place on the short list of books on colonial Latin America that one can give undergraduates, graduate students, professional scholars, and nonacademic friends and expect each to derive both pleasure and profit from it...The writing throughout is excellent...Scholars of colonial Mexico, the Spanish empire, and comparative borderlands should read \u003ci\u003ePromiscuous Power\u003c\/i\u003e and assign it to students at all levels. * Hispanic American Historical Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eNesvig has written one of the most compelling and entertaining accounts yet on the tumultuous first decades of Spanish rule in Mexico. He shows how self-serving rogues and ruffians grabbed power in Michoacán and then dictated to the royal government and Catholic Church their terms for accepting outside authority.\u003c\/p\u003e * New Mexico Historical Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Cast of Characters\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1: The Conquest of Michoacán, Paradise’s Lost and Found\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2: Burning Down the House, in Which the Spiritual Conquistadors Go to War with Each Other\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3: “I Shit on You, Sir”; or, A Rather Unorthodox Lot of Catholics Who Didn’t Fear the Inquisition\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4: The Inquisition That Wasn’t There, in Which the Locals Removed the Inquisition’s Agent from Office and the Inquisition Gave Up\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5: The Crown’s Man: An “Incorrigible Delinquent,” in Which a Bunch of Sketchy and Murderous Dudes Wrought Havoc in Colima\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6: Caudillo Priests, in Which the Locals Triumphed and Trampled the Crown\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408952238423,"sku":"9781477315835","price":23.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781477315835.jpg?v=1730504833","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/promiscuous-power-9781477315835","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}