Writing the New World

“A lucid, forceful, and beautifully written study of faith, nature, and politics in the early modern Hispanic monarchy. This is an important book that urges political philosophy to deal more squarely with empire’s complicated historical relationship to ecology and knowledge.”—John Slater, author of Todos son hojas: literatura e historia natural en el Barroco español

“A compelling account of the scholarly Spanish churchmen whose natural histories of the New World shaped early modern empires and Enlightenment science and whose influence on our thought only gains importance as our world warms.”—Joshua Simon, author of The Ideology of Creole Revolution: Imperialism and Independence in American and Latin American Political Thought

“An open and compelling invitation for future interdisciplinary investigation into this complicated moral and environmental tapestry and its many weavers.”—H-Net

“Debates in sixteenth-century Spain about human rights, sovereignty, empire, and just war informed the way these concepts developed in the centuries that followed Columbus’s landfall. . . . Writing the New World . . . adds a fascinating missing piece to this intellectual history, further solidifying the place that Latin America, its history, and its nature has in the story of Western political theory.”—Perspectives on Politics

“Reflects the enduring relevance of historical and humanistic approaches to politics and the environment, while perhaps signaling a potential means of revitalizing the field of political theory though transdisciplinary engagement with matters of empire, race, class, and environment in a time of planetary crisis.”—New Political Science

“A thoughtful and original book that is particularly important to read during these times of environmental decline.”—Political Theory

“Provid[es] a concise overview of some of the important milestones of Spanish natural history writing during the sixteenth century. . . . Fruitfully bring[s] its sixteenth-century materials into conversation with current theoretical perspectives derived from environmental studies that may provide auspicious starting points for further discussions.”—New West Indian Guide

“This book is an important step towards the inclusion of Spanish scholarship and the environment into the canon of European political tradition. . . . Writing the New World should prompt larger reflections on the connections between environment and society in our current moment of generalized climatic crisis.”—Journal of Arizona History