This book analyzes the relationship between writing and capitalist accumulation in Latin America, from the fifteenth century to the late twentieth century.

Ricardo García reflects on how the logic of accumulation has shaped value, literature, and the role of the intellectual in Latin America. By reading several key figures for the region, from the sailor and cosmonaut Columbus to the twenty-first century writer Valeria Luiselli, the author teases out the different ways that accumulation has transformed the region from the sixteenth century and twenty-first century.