In Defense of the Indians: The Defense of the Most Reverend Lord, Don Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, of the Order of Preachers, Late Bishop of Chia

This is the seminal work of Bartolome De las Casas, a Spanish conquistador and priest who became a passionate defender of the native people of the Americas and has, of late, been accused of thus provoking the slave trade. However that was not his intention as is clear in this primary source, his original appeals on behalf of the natives. Las Casas was appaled by what he saw in the new world in the last years of the 15th century and the first of the 16th. He understood that the natives should be saved as a people and that they deserved better treatment than to be made slaves, worked to death or having their arms lopped off because they could not produce enough gold. A passioante defense, Las Cases' work might be said to be one fo the first published works on human rights. A major landmark and an importatn document in the history of Christianity, the new world, colonialism and the West. Seth J. Frantzman

Las Casas is an interesting figure: bishop, Dominican, late scholastic, polemicist, he spent great amounts of time and effort in order to ensure the equitable treatment of the American natives by the Spaniards. This tome is a good example of his toils.This book (if memory serves) is basically the defense of the native peoples Las Casas presented at the Council of Valladolid against various others, most especially a theologian named Sepulveda (who argued, among other things, that the natives were Aristotelian "natural slaves"). Las Casas makes his case that the natives are fully human, can be converted, and should be treated rightly. In the process of doing this, Las Casas touches on (among other things) the nature of the Church, conversion and "scandal," and the just war tradition. Las Casas manages to pile quite a bit into this work.The reader should prepare, though, for a somewhat difficult read. Las Casas was using every argumentative means available to make his case for the Indians. He goes from scholastic argument and legal discussion (often times repeatedly bringing up the same or similar point) to out and out polemics and ad hominem attacks. The work is not terribly systematic, and can seem a bit frenzied.Having written that, though, it is a fascinating read by a remarkable bishop. Those interested in the time of exploration, the relations between the Europeans and the Indians, a practical use of Thomistic thinking and canon law, or of conversion in a foreign land. should read this book. The translation by Poole is excellent, as is his citing of works mentioned/implied in Las Casas' arguments. Highly recommended.