Book Review: "Children of the Days" by Eduardo Galeano

Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History (2013) 

Eduardo Galeano (1940)

Translated by Mark Fried

 423 pages


When we look back over the broad sweep of history, we can easily be left with the impression of a fast moving river: some occasional surface features --- an important general here or a prominent king there --- but mostly it’s wide and deep, with individuals lost in the jumbled flow of humanity. How different from the very recent history we have actually lived, in which particular people, beyond just the famous and powerful, stand out for us as we follow the daily news of the world. It may not be many, but we come to know about people who fight for what they feel is right and just often against losing odds, others who seem blind to the irrationality of their behavior, and generally a whole assortment of characters from the wonderful to the odd. Surely there were also such people in the past, people who were not presidents or generals or leaders of powerful movements, but who stood out in some way, positively or negatively, if only for a brief moment in time?

In his book Children of the Days, Eduardo Galeano introduces us to some of these people, pulling from our collective history, traveling from the earliest days of human existence in Africa to the first moon landing. Written as a series of calendar entries, from 1 January through to 31 December, Galeano captures a brief recollection of a person or event, writing sometimes just a few lines, never more than a page. Many of the entries are tied to the day under which they appear, though not all. Occasionally a few entries form a sequence of related history or context over two or sometimes three days, but for the most part these sketches are independent, one from the next, jumping far and wide in time and geographical location.

Focusing generally on the less famous, those lost to the dark corners of history, Galeano recalls the courageous and brave, who stood up and fought back against injustice and inequality, and too the nefarious and conniving, who deceived and exploited the gullible or powerless.

So, for the example the story of Juana Manso, who in the 1800’s worked to expand the reach of education in Argentina and Uruguay:

June 30
A NUISANCE IS BORN

Today in 1819 Juana Manso was baptized in Buenos Aires.
The holy waters were to set her on the path to meekness, but Juana Manso was never meek.
Bucking wind and tide she founded secular schools in Argentina and Uruguay where girls and boys studied together, religion was not a required course and corporal punishment was banned.
She wrote the first textbook on Argentine history plus several other works, among them a novel that derided the hypocrisy of married life.
She founded the first public library in the country’s interior.
She got divorced when divorce did not exist.
The Buenos Aires papers took great pleasure in mocking her.
When she died, the Church refused her a tomb.

Or, in the following century, a man who dedicated his life instead to intentionally miseducating the public:

April 2
MANUFACTURING PUBLIC OPINION

In 1917 President Woodrow Wilson announced that the United States would enter World War I.
Four and a half years earlier, Wilson had been elected as the peace candidate.
Public opinion embraced with the same enthusiasm his pacifist speeches and his declaration of war.
Edward Bernays was the principal author of this miracle.
When the war was over, Bernays acknowledged that he had used doctored photographs and made-up anecdotes to spark pro-war sentiment.
This public relations success kicked off a brilliant career.
Bernays went on to advise several presidents and the world’s most powerful businessmen.
Reality is not what it is; it’s what I tell you it is. We can thank him, more than anyone else, for the modern techniques of mass manipulation that can convince people to by anything from a brand of soap to a war.

And the entries are not always tied to a specific person; witness the one for 12th April, which highlights the apparently timeless ability of people to rationalize their behavior in ways that seem blatantly contradictory to their own professed philosophies:

April 12
MANUFACTURING THE GUILTY PARTY

On a day like today in the year 33 --- a day earlier, a day later --- Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross.
His judges had found him guilty of “inciting idolatry, blasphemy and abominable superstition.”
Not many centuries later, the Indians of the Americas and the heretics of Europe were found guilty of those same crimes --- exactly the same ones --- and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth they were punished by lash, gallows, or fire.

The 365 histories in the book vary from what may be only apocryphal stories to factual and documented histories, but the absolute truth is hardly the point here. In these wonderfully captured sketches Galeano reminds us of the depth and variety of humanity, and the on-going struggle for what is right and good that people have fought and won, and lost, and won again --- or sometimes not --- throughout history.

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Other reviews / information:

Galeano follows a similar style, if not tied to days and more chronologically sequential, in his three volume Memory of Fire series on the discovery and development of Latin America, of which I have so far read the first book, Genesis.

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Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
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