You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by pastellus
It Was Snowing Butterflies by Charles Darwin, Charles Darwin
dark
sad
medium-paced
0.5
I'm frankly extremely disappointed in Penguin for including this book in the Little Black Classics collection, especially when knowing how the people of Tierra del Fuego have been persecuted, and how harmful Darwin's views on what he calls "uncivilised people" have been in general. Yes, Darwin's contributions to science are of historic importance, yet knowing as much doesn't mean that I have reason to be any less disgusted, angered, and saddened by what was written here.
The whole time as I read, I found myself thinking of how few Yahgan people remain in Chile, of the Selk'nam Genocide, and how even these beautiful languages that Darwin claimed "scarcely deserves to be called articulate" are fading away, with only few speaking them anymore. What a terrible thing to write.
I will say that I did at least find that this book made some interesting remarks on the flora and fauna of the Southern Cone. But, I simply can't look past how racist Darwin and his companions were. Why would Penguin include this in the collection, and yet to this day, not a single book by a Latin America author?
The whole time as I read, I found myself thinking of how few Yahgan people remain in Chile, of the Selk'nam Genocide, and how even these beautiful languages that Darwin claimed "scarcely deserves to be called articulate" are fading away, with only few speaking them anymore. What a terrible thing to write.
I will say that I did at least find that this book made some interesting remarks on the flora and fauna of the Southern Cone. But, I simply can't look past how racist Darwin and his companions were. Why would Penguin include this in the collection, and yet to this day, not a single book by a Latin America author?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Trafficking, Colonisation