In six hundred narratives that unfold both chronologically and thematically, Galeano speaks about humanity’s struggle for life, about war, poverty, social inequalities and racism, about the expansionism and greed of the West, about nature and its destruction, about football and the media.

Galeano visits conventional history to overturn it, reconstructing the pieces into a new pattern, revealing the past in a radically different form. From the Garden of Eden to the urban landscapes of the 21st century, we glimpse fragments from the lives of those whom official history has neglected: artists, servants, gods and visionaries, the black slaves who built the White House, and the women who were subdued for the interests of rulers.

A poetic as well as political retelling of the history of humanity from prehistory to the present day, through hundreds of forgotten and overlooked voices. His kaleidoscopic vignettes shed light on history as it was silently but effectively written by the lesser and the defeated.

At the Olympic Games organized by Hitler to glorify his superior race, the greatest star was a black man born in Alabama, whose grandparents were slaves. Hitler was forced to swallow four insults: the four gold medals Owens won in running and long jump. The whole world celebrated those victories of democracy against racism. When the champion returned to his country, he was not congratulated by the president, nor did he receive any invitation from the White House. He returned to his old life: entering buses through the back door, eating at restaurants for blacks, using black-only restrooms, staying at hotels for blacks.

Excerpt from the book

THE PRESS WROTE

To publish Galeano is to publish the enemy: the enemy of lies, indifference, and above all, oblivion. Thanks to him, the crimes will not be forgotten. His tenderness is overwhelming, his accuracy furious.

John Berger

Every book by Galeano is a celebration of the spirit, thanks to the quality of his inimitable literary style, his biting humor, and his unique lyricism; and thanks to his penetrating and gently relentless critical gaze toward the absurdities of a troubled world.

Le Monde Diplomatique

Mirrors is an accomplishment, a stroke of genius.

Expansion

Fundamental themes that the author narrates with a spare language and pervasive irony and humor.

El Mundo