El Dorado: A Reader
El Dorado: A Reader
Published with the exhibition El Dorado: Myths of Gold, the book investigates how a legend as malleable as gold itself has alchemized from myth to reality.
El Dorado: A Reader investigates the ways that El Dorado—a legend as malleable as gold itself—has alchemized from myth to reality, deconstructing the ancient tale and allowing fresh narratives to surge forth. Ranging from commissioned essays by contemporary scholars to selected historical excerpts by explorers such as Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus, as well as literary productions by Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe, these texts illustrate the way the legend has morphed and transfigured, but never lost its ethos. El Dorado: A Reader continues the search for El Dorado and investigates how it has shaped the continent’s history and future.
The publication of El Dorado: A Reader was possible with major support of Rio Tinto. It was published in conjunction with the exhibition, El Dorado: Myths of Gold.
WITH ESSAYS BY
- Timothy Alborn
- Sergio Baur
- James Doyle
- Ana M. Franco
- Milton Hatoum
- Cristóbal Jácome-Moreno
- Jennifer Josten
- Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert
- Sean Nesselrode Moncada
- Joanne Pillsbury
- Jennifer Raab
- Charlotte Rogers
- Gabriela Siracusano
- Edward J. Sullivan
HISTORICAL TEXTS BY
- Cristobál de Acuña
- Pedro de Aguado
- Richard Francis Burton
- Luis Capoche
- Pedro de Castañeda
- Bartolomé de las Casas
- Juan de Castellanos
- Don Manuel Centurion
- Hernán Cortés
- Albrecht Dürer
- Robert Harcourt
- Antonio de Herrera
- Alexander von Humboldt
- Lawrence Kemys
- Peter Martyr d’Anghiera
- John Milton
- Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
- Sir Walter Raleigh
- Juan Rodríguez Freyle
- Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua Collaborators
- Pedro Simon Unknown Aztec Writer
- Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
- Amerigo Vespucci Voltaire
- Titu Cusi Yupanqui
The group exhibition on the legend of El Dorado as a foundational myth of the Americas ran from January 24 through May 18, 2024.
El Dorado: A Reader was possible with the major support of 
The presentation of the exhibition El Dorado: Myths of Gold and related programming has been made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Additional support was provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund. Since 2020, Americas Society, Fundación PROA, and Museo Amparo have been joining efforts to conceptualize and bring to life the Project El Dorado, resulting in a convening, as well as a series of publications and exhibitions different for each institution (Proa 2023, Amparo 2024).
Americas Society acknowledges the generous support from the Arts of the Americas Circle members: Amalia Amoedo, Almeida e Dale Galeria de Arte, Estrellita B. Brodsky, Virginia Cowles Schroth, Emily A. Engel, Isabella Hutchinson, Carolina Jannicelli, Diana López and Herman Sifontes, Antonio Murzi, Gabriela Pérez Rocchietti, Marco Pappalardo and Cintya Poletti Pappalardo, Carolina Pinciroli, Erica Roberts, Patricia Ruiz-Healy, Sharon Schultz, and Edward J. Sullivan.
