Abstract

From the 16th century, the mines of Potosí, perched high in the Andes, bankrolled the Spanish empire. During those years immense wealth allowed the city to grow larger than London at the time and the mountain was quickly given the epithet Cerro Rico – the 'rich mountain'. But today, Potosí’s inhabitants are some of the poorest in South America while the mountain itself has been so greedily plundered that its summit is on the verge of collapsing. So many people have died in the mines that the Cerro Rico is now called the 'mountain that eats men’.

In this captivating, moving tale of harrowing bravery and wistful beauty Ander Izagirre tells the story of the mountain and those who risk their lives in its shadow through the eyes of Alicia – a 14-year-old girl working in the dark, dangerous mines to support her family. Through her eyes we can come to know the story of postcolonial Bolivia.

‘Burning with a quiet power and rage, The Mountain that Eats Men will move you to tears and to anger.’
Mark Mann, author of The Gringo Trail

‘Izagirre’s narrative of characters eking out a living amidst what, for many, ultimately became silver-lined tombs is deft, admirable, and haunting.’
Kim MacQuarrie, author of Life and Death In the Andes

‘With echoes of Galeano’s political ire and Salgado’s immersive rawness, Izagirre has produced a gut-puncher of a book.’
Oliver Balch, author of Viva South America!

‘Extremely well written … uses what appears to be a small, personal story to tell a much wider, more universal one… Like Kapuściński, he finds the drop of water that reflects everything around it.’
Martín Caparrós, El País

‘[Shares] the spirit of Eduardo Galeano... but Izagirre gets closer to the ground.’
Ricardo Martínez Llorca, Culturamas

Ander Izagirre is a Spanish author, journalist and travel writer whose writing has appeared in National Geographic and Lonely Planet, as well as El País, El Correo and other publications. He has written extensively on Latin American issues, and was awarded the European Press Prize 2015 for his reports on war crimes in Colombia.

Tim Gutteridge is a Scottish translator and editor, based in Cadiz, Andalusia, where he lives with his partner and their two children. He specializes in academic and literary translation, and his recent work includes The Swallow¸ a stage play by Catalan dramatist Guillem Clua. @TimG_translator