Bishop's Utopia

Emily Berquist Soule teaches history at California State University at Long Beach.

• Introduction. Utopias in the New WorldChapter 1. The Books of a BishopChapter 2. Parish Priests and Useful InformationChapter 3. Imagining Towns in TrujilloChapter 4. Improvement Through EducationChapter 5. The Hualgayoc Silver MineChapter 6. Local Botany: The Products of UtopiaChapter 7. The Legacy of MartÍnez CompaÑÓnConclusion. MartÍnez CompaÑÓn's Native UtopiaAfterwordSources and MethodsAppendix 1. Ecclesiastical Questionnaire Sent to Priests Prior to the Visita Party's ArrivalAppendix 2. Natural History Questionnaire Sent to Priests Prior to the Visita Party's ArrivalNotesArchives and Special Collections ConsultedIndexAcknowledgments

"Astonishingly original and highly readable. With this ground-breaking study of the monumental work of Bishop Martínez Compañón, Emily Berquist Soule opens up a whole new world of research on the eighteenth century in Peruvian history. This is cultural, intellectual, and art historical writing at the very highest level." (Gary Urton, Harvard University) "A deeply researched, beautifully written account of a fascinating man. Bishop Martínez Compañón was a brilliant iconoclast who saw the need for change and did everything he possibly could to promote it. Emily Berquist Soule's impressive archival work and fine pen brought him to life." (Charles Walker, University of California, Davis) "A superb study of a neglected figure of the Spanish-American Catholic Enlightenment whose capacious mind and broad cultural, political, and social reforming agenda here expertly come alive. Berquist Soule casts her net widely, utilizing documentation from over a dozen archives, to reconstruct the bishop's agenda and struggles. Her work marvelously reminds readers that his utopia was disciplined by reality: competing and conflicting agendas of the locals taught the eager bishop the limits of his vision." (Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, University of Texas)