Rivers of Gold, Lives of Bondage

“A major contribution to an important area of Latin American scholarship. Though the slave population was relatively small in Ecuador, Bryant illustrates slavery’s pervasive impact on the colonial society that grew up there.”—Kathryn Burns, author of Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru

“A very smart book. Bryant makes a powerful argument for slavery as integral, even indispensable, to the colonial process in Quito. His book will stand as a truly important contribution to the history of Latin America and slave studies more broadly.”—James H. Sweet, author of Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World

“Offers a new perspective on early modern empire making. . . . A welcome addition that contributes to scholarship on slavery, imperial governance, and legal cultures.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

“Reasserts through a varied and rich set of lenses how colonization, enslavement and race governance was enacted through royal impositions.”—Slavery & Abolition

“Bryant’s exhaustive archival work yields new insights into the periodization of what he describes as the ‘black radical discourse’ of slaves”—Colonial Latin American Historical Review

“Enriched by solid archival research and interdisciplinary orientation that has resulted in deeper understanding of Spanish colonial legal culture. . . . An invaluable research tool to scholars working on the history of slavery, African diaspora, Afro-Creole studies, and Colonial Latin American studies.”—Sixteenth Century Journal

“Deeply researched and carefully structured.”—Journal of Historical Geography

“A well-researched and eloquently written contribution to research on the Audiencia of Quito.”—American Historical Review

“Rivers of Gold takes slaves' court cases and petitions as useful strategies for challenging oppression, thereby reaching beyond individual outcomes to make a broader argument about how slaves fought their subjugation from within the system.”—Latin American Research Review