Requiem for a Millennium

Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist, is a member of NPQ's editorial advisory board.

Mexico City - If you happened to be a high-school student in Latin America, Latin Europe or the French colonies of Asia and Africa during the first half of the 20th century, you were almost certain to study history in the slim, greenbound volumes written by the MM. Malet et Isaac. They neatly divided the millennia into three categories. The Middle Ages, ending with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Modern Age, starting with the discovery of America in 1492, and the Contemporary Era, which made its debut with the French revolution of 1789.