Gustavo Vazquez-Lozano has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators, with an average listener rating of 1★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is The Virgin of Guadalupe.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
Summary
No other artwork in the world is comparable to the Virgin of Guadalupe. What makes this painting unique - located in the Basilica of Guadalupe, north of Mexico City - is not precisely its artistic quality, as is the case with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo or The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, nor its place in the evolution of painting. It clearly does not constitute a landmark in art history, and the most visited painting in the world is certainly not the summit or the harbinger of a new aesthetic movement, like Dali's melting watches or Van Gogh's Starry Night. In fact, for some, the execution of the image is coarse and all its elements fit well known techniques. For others, it is merely a copy of a sculpture of the Virgin found in Spain. What distinguishes the Virgin of Guadalupe of Mexico is her universality: unlike any work of art in the world, it can be recognized by any local resident, certainly the most ubiquitous symbol in her country. It would be difficult to find a Mexican who cannot name her. The other thing that makes the Virgin of Guadalupe incomparable is her power to unite her nation, something that has been widely demonstrated throughout history. At different moments, and raised by different hands, the Virgin of Guadalupe (never the original painting) has led the troops that changed the history of the territory now known as Mexico. Not even a few hours had passed after the start of the War of Independence when the rebel army was already carrying the image of Guadalupe; in the twentieth century the image was present at the indigenous rebellion in Chiapas in 1994 and also materialized during the Mexican "perestroika" of 2000, which ended the single-party regime that had lasted for seven decades. Going further back, during Mexico's conquest, Hernán Cortés carried an image of the Virgin that, to the disinterested observer, is obviously the prototype of the Mexican Madonna. For some, Guadalupe is the work of a talented Indian painter, and this work was retouched and embellished by others in later centuries. The majority of scholars note how the image "appeared" at a very convenient time in Mexico´s history, when evangelization functioned as the ideological arm of the material conquest of the Aztec empire. There are even reasons to wonder whether the image currently on display in Mexico City is the same as in the 17th century since it is known from testimonies of the time that Mary had a crown on her head. That means if it's the same, at the very least it has been retouched, doctored and tampered with again. Conversely, for the believers, the image was miraculously stamped on the tilma or cloak of a man named Juan Diego. Among the latter are most of the 17 million persons who visit the original every year in Mexico City, which makes it the most visited painting in the world. By comparison, the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris receives six million visitors per year. What nobody questions —believers, skeptics or atheists— is that the Virgin of Guadalupe has been the most important symbol, religious or not, in Mexico´s history, a kind of non-official flag. Her influence has spread even to the Mexican diaspora, where it has become a sign of identity, pride and resistance among undocumented immigrants in the United States. For Mexicans, it's not necessary to be religious to believe in the power of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a unifying symbol and embodiment of national identity.
©2016 Charles River Editors (P)2016 Charles River Editors
Mexico and the World Wars
Summary
Otto von Bismarck, the leading German statesman of the 19th century, once joked, “There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the US of America”. He said this not because the Americans were a great concern for him - his main interest in the US was trade -, but as the architect of the first unified German state, he was setting the tone for what two generations of German nationals would feel about America’s apparent invulnerability. It would always be better, thus, to keep America away from Germany's business. Nonetheless, during the two major wars of the 20th century, America and Germany did indeed clash against each other, and in both cases, American entry into the war was a decisive factor in the defeat of the Germans. Germany had a good reason for desiring the non-interference of the American colossus: with a declining British Empire, and the rest of Europe mired in a diplomatic labyrinth, America seemed to be the only nation with the capacity to tip the scales in a major war. Germany respected and feared American power as much as the US marveled at Germany's impetus and its ability to mobilize an entire nation. Indeed, in both wars, the US waited until it believed it had no choice but to declare war and engage in a conflict that was taking place on the other side of the world. In World War I, it was the discovery of a German plan to attack the US through Mexico that overturned public opinion against neutrality, and in World War II, it wasn't until Pearl Harbor. Of course, this is not to say that America was not active in the war efforts before its official entry. Germany always tried to stay a step ahead and weaken the US where it least expected it: its own neighborhood. Thus, Germany placed great emphasis on luring Mexico into its sphere of influence. Operating in Canada was out of the question, not only because of the difficult access from the North Atlantic, but also because greater historical and cultural ties united the two neighbors. This was not the case with Mexico, and by taking advantage of the historical hostility and longstanding resentment of the Mexicans, Germany organized a secret operation against the US, a conspiracy of colossal proportions, a move so risky that, had it succeeded, it would have changed the face of Western hemisphere forever. On both occasions, Germany hoped to wage a proxy war against an undeclared enemy. In World War I, Germany planned an invasion from Mexico not once but on several occasions, one of them with a formal invitation to the president of Mexico to lead it. This would have been a German-Mexican coalition that, if successful, would have rewarded Mexico with part of the territories lost in 1847, namely Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. To be sure, the Kaiser knew that Mexico had no chance of winning that war, even with German aid, nor of regaining its lost territory, but the German Empire did not really care about Mexico, nor was expecting a Mexican victory. Germany only needed to buy more time, enough to defeat America’s European allies so that when the US succeeded in subduing the Mexicans, it would have to negotiate with a victorious Germany. Though these efforts remain mostly unknown except for brief mentions of the Zimmermann Telegram, Germany did not hesitate to make use of the weak, unprepared Mexico, and operate against the US in order to fulfill its own objectives. In fact, "sacrificing" Mexico was seen as inevitable collateral damage. For the Kaiser in the First World War and the Führer in the Second World War, utilizing Mexico as a strategic base to importune and hold back the US was a priority in the Americas.
©2019 Charles River Editors (P)2020 Charles River Editors
Fairy Tales
Summary
Dense forests, evil stepmother, beautiful girl, dwarfs in mines, a prince and, eventually, poisoning (in that order). Sound familiar? Most will recognize the basic plot of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one of the most popular fairy tales in history. Even if the passing of time (and Disney) embellished it with a thousand details, in particular the happy ending, this and other tales reflect the Sitz im Leben (or setting in life) in which fairy tales emerged. The stories, which were transmitted orally during the Middle Ages, are like fogged windows to the way of life, the kind of people, and social conditions of the regions where they took their final shape. In some instances, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, they may be echoing historical facts. And the poisoned apple? Sander thinks that the lethal fruit was added later, during the stage of oral transmission, in remembrance of a man who really existed in Germany and was arrested for giving poisoned apples to children because he thought they were stealing from him. For centuries, beautifully illustrated fairy-tale volumes have rested innocently on kids' night tables around the world, long ago relegated to the dubious honor of being branded as "children's literature". But every story is a file packed with information, and Cinderella, Snow White, Puss in Boots, and Bluebeard have always intimated that perhaps they have more to tell besides "beautiful" stories, the same ones that animated the minds of several generations of children. Whether or not they had peaceful dreams is another matter, because even in their current versions, sterilized, and with their original contents doctored, classic fairy tales are far from innocent stories for five-year-old children.
©2016 Charles River Editors (P)2016 Charles River Editors
The Book of Revelation: The History and Legacy of the Apocalyptic Final Book of the Bible
Summary
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” - The Book of Revelation 6:2 About 2,000 years ago, a prophet named John wrote a book about his strange visions while he was in Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. This John, the Seer, the Revelator, was long believed to be one of Jesus’ apostles, but recent historians have determined that he was a second-generation disciple. In fact, he was likely a political exile, writing for Christians under the threat of persecution by the Roman Empire, and his book, the Book of Revelation, was controversial, obscure, and rejected by many local churches as early as the 2nd century CE. Even after it managed to slip into the Bible as the last book of the canon, for years many doubted its authenticity, and others later branded it as the heretical hallucinations of a madman. Despite those controversial origins, the Apocalypse or Revelation of John remains firmly embedded in the Bible as the final chapter of the great saga that opens with Genesis, the beginning of everything. As a bookend to Genesis, Revelation provides a narrative of the end times, the completion of history, and the end of the world. Genesis and Revelation thus constitute the Alpha and the Omega, a surprising expression that the Book of Revelation applies to the divinity. In the opening verses of the Book of Revelation, God says to John, “I am the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end. I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come.” John proclaims, “On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: `Write on a scroll what you see.’” His esoteric narrative, impenetrable to most of his readers, is full of symbols, keys, and metaphors, abounds in strange visions and prophecies, monsters, natural catastrophes, and describes terrifying scenes that are typically described as apocalyptic. This fascinating book also features some of the most well-known religious concepts in the West, things that have provoked fear and fascination for centuries, including the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the famous number of the Beast (666), the Antichrist (whom Revelation calls "the beast"), and the whore of Babylon. Perhaps inevitably, the interpretation of the Book of Revelation has also generated significant controversy. Once it obtained its canonical status, meaning it was accepted by the whole Church as a divinely inspired text, countless generations immersed themselves in its verses in an effort to decode the visions of the prophet John. Theologians of many ages, and even recent Biblical scholars, have dissected the sentences and found clues regarding the work’s authorship, context, and date of composition. One position is that Revelation is the literal truth of things to come, those who await the return of Christ in the clouds, commanding the Heavenly army, while others take a more spiritual interpretation. Still another position is that the book narrates events that were happening while John composed the tractate, and that it is a codified description, in terms which were understandable to the readers of its time, of the persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero or Emperor Domitian. A more intriguing proposition says that Revelation, in its primitive form, consisted of two or more shorter texts, and interestingly, that it originally formed a Jewish document that originally had nothing to do with Jesus.
©2020 Charles River Editors (P)2020 Charles River Editors
The Santa Muerte
Summary
This is the story of Santa Muerte, the so-called cult of crisis, a red-hot combo of a kermesse (Mexican carnival), Catholicism and New Age; a hedonist practice but involving bodily sacrifice too. It is an expression of economic, psychological and social forces, bigger than perhaps any of her acolytes suspect. This book looks at the folk saint and the manner in which her cult grew. You will learn about Santa Muerte like never before.
©2016 Charles River Editors (P)2016 Charles River Editors