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Gold’s allure, slavery’s horror, Trinidad’s brutal, empire-shaping story.
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The Loss of El Dorado

A Colonial History

$27.30

  • Paperback

    400 pages

  • Release Date

    29 December 2026

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Summary

At the centre of this extraordinary historical narrative are two linked themes: the grinding down of the aborigines during the long rivalries of the quest for El Dorado, the mythical kingdom of gold; and, two hundred years later, the man-made horror of the new slave colony.

In The Loss of El Dorado, V. S. Naipaul shows how the alchemic delusion of El Dorado drew the small island of Trinidad into the vortex of world events, making it the object of Spanish and English colonial …

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781035091508
ISBN-10:103509150X
Author:V.S. Naipaul
Publisher:Pan Macmillan
Imprint:Picador
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:400
Release Date:29 December 2026
Weight:278g
Dimensions:24mm x 130mm x 200mm
Series:Picador Collection
Audience Age:18
A-Format
B-Format
The Loss of El Dorado by V.S. Naipaul - ISBN: 9781035091508
130 × 200 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

History as literature, meticulously researched and masterfully written. * New York Times Book Review *
A formidable achievement… . No historian has attempted to weave together in so subtle a manner the threads of the most complex and turbulent period of Caribbean history. * Times Literary Supplement *
Brilliant… . Startling. * New Statesman *
A remarkable book… . Intelligent, humane, brilliantly written. * Book World *

About The Author

V.S. Naipaul

V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950 and spent four years at University College, Oxford. He began writing in London in 1954 and pursued no other profession.

His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971, he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State.

His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

In 1990, V.S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature. In 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire and died in 2018.

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