Oh man, I'm down. I have The Labyrinth of Solitude on my reading list, it's not pre-Columbian, but I think it's a cultural touchstone, and it's a Mexican writer

Oh man, I'm down. I have The Labyrinth of Solitude on my reading list, it's not pre-Columbian, but I think it's a cultural touchstone, and it's a Mexican writer, not some American that knows just enough Spanish. I read Layered Money, and it talked about the VoC, but I think that's a few decades after the Dutch Revolt. I'll check it out! If you want a wild story, read about Judah P. Benjamin. He was the descendant of Sephardic Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, he was the first openly Jewish U.S. senator (representing Louisiana), eventually a Confederate Cabinet member, and finally a barrister in England. To top it all off, he was likely gay. To put things into perspective, he was a partner in sugar plantation, a slave owner, and an prominent advocate for slavery. Usually when you hear anything about the man, it's his international resume, not the fact of his slave ownership.