Darwin’s Savages

‘To read [this] ‘grim history’ of Patagonia is to realise how much of our understanding of this evocative region has been based on a succession of monstrous … misconceptions.’

’[An] absorbing book … [Carr has] an eye for the damning detail.’

‘An interesting book.’

‘Powerful, illuminating and perceptive, Darwin’s Savages cuts through the mythologisation and misrepresentation around the brutal subjugation of Patagonia’s Indigenous peoples. Carr deftly examines the legacy of Darwin in this hard-hitting story of colonisation, science, racism and resistance, while weaving in vivid first-hand descriptions and contemporary reportage.’

‘With graceful, incisive prose and corroborative historical research, Carr walks the reader through the brutal colonisation of the Indigenous peoples of Patagonia, a story too long hidden from history and at the same time heartbreakingly familiar to First Peoples everywhere.’

‘Blending correspondences, history and lived experiences, this engaging narrative crosses times and places to illuminate the entanglement of Darwin’s ideas with colonialism and racism, and their impact on the Indigenous peoples of Patagonia, then and now.’

Matthew Carr is the author of non-fiction books including Blood and Faith; Fortress Europe; and Savage Frontier (all published by Hurst), as well as two novels, The Devils of Cardona and Black Sun Rising. He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian and others. He lives in Sheffield.