City of Kings (Discoveries Series) - Softcover

"These stories . . . show Castellanos to be a first-rate writer whose understanding of Mexican culture is as disturbing as it is engrossing . . . She manages her exposure of the racist underpinnings of society brilliantly; more than 30 years after these stories were written, the inhumanity they portray continues to chill the soul." Publishers Weekly"

Ciudad Real, as the Mexican city of San Cristobal de las Casas was called in earlier times, is the setting for this 1960 collection of stories by Rosario Castellanos that treats the passionate and timely themes of race, class, power and language. Set in the southern region of Chiapas where Castellanos was born, City of Kings (Ciudad Real) explores the centuries-old domination of indigenous people by whites, and the complex relationship between conquerors and conquered that is its outcome. Each story weaves into the next to present a portrait of the men, women and children of the region, with their hopes, tragedies, beliefs and fears. Most of all, City of Kings reveals the pain and damage suffered by both the weak and the strong when exploitation is the basis for everyday life.