Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe's Conquest of Indigenous Peoples

This account of the brutalities of European colonialism concentrates on four episodes--the destruction of the Aztecs, the exterminations of the Tasmanians and the Herero, and the cowing of the Apache. Starting with the general statement that the expansion of European Christian civilization has been at the expense of tribal peoples throughout the world, who were seen as either objects for exploitation or study or as simply surplus, Mark Cocker argues that the pattern was set by the encounter with the Aztecs--Spaniards hot from the reconquista were not in the mood to be tolerant of blood-sacrificing cannibals, no matter how urbane and sophisticated. Poorer peoples such as the Tasmanians and the Herero he sees as simply victims; only the Apache made the whole process so costly that they became heroes to their conquerors. Some of this is special pleading; Cocker neglects the role of disease and sometimes talks as if Europeans were uniquely bad--compared to, say, Genghis Khan?--and his concentration on selected case studies ignores the issues raised by more complex cases such as India or the Maori. Nonetheless, it is a terrifying indictment of atrocities all the worse for the sanctimonious efficiency with which they were carried out. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk