19th century
20-50
A01=Sylvia Sellers-Garcia
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archival sources
Author_Sylvia Sellers-Garcia
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Category1=Non-Fiction
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central america
colonialism
COP=United States
crime spree
criminal justice
criminology
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gender studies
guatemala city
historiography
history of crime
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Language_English
latin america
modern world
murder
mutilation
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Price_€20 to €50
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serial killer
social reform
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true crime
Product details
- ISBN 9780300234282
- Dimensions: 140 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 14 Apr 2020
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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A true story of violence, punishment, and a transformative moment in Guatemalan history that “deftly ranges across Italian iconography, Maya cosmovision, casta paintings, Enlightenment urbanism, conceptions of death, masculinity, gender violence, crime and punishment, and the growth of the state.” (Laura Matthew, Hispanic American Historical Review)
On the morning of July 1, 1800, a surveyor and mapmaker named Cayetano Díaz opened the window of his study in Guatemala City to find a horrific sight: a pair of severed breasts. Offering a meticulously researched and evocative account of the quest to find the perpetrator and understand the motives behind such a brutal act, The Woman on the Windowsill pinpoints the last decade of the eighteenth-century as a watershed moment in Guatemalan history, when the nature of justice changed dramatically.
Sylvia Sellers‑García reveals how this bizarre and macabre event came with an increased attention to crime that resulted in more forceful policing and reflected important policy decisions not only in Guatemala but throughout the Spanish Empire. This engaging true crime story serves as a backdrop for the broader consideration of the forces shaping Guatemala City at the brink of the modern era.
On the morning of July 1, 1800, a surveyor and mapmaker named Cayetano Díaz opened the window of his study in Guatemala City to find a horrific sight: a pair of severed breasts. Offering a meticulously researched and evocative account of the quest to find the perpetrator and understand the motives behind such a brutal act, The Woman on the Windowsill pinpoints the last decade of the eighteenth-century as a watershed moment in Guatemalan history, when the nature of justice changed dramatically.
Sylvia Sellers‑García reveals how this bizarre and macabre event came with an increased attention to crime that resulted in more forceful policing and reflected important policy decisions not only in Guatemala but throughout the Spanish Empire. This engaging true crime story serves as a backdrop for the broader consideration of the forces shaping Guatemala City at the brink of the modern era.
Sylvia Sellers-García is associate professor of history at Boston College. Her previous books include Distance and Documents at the Spanish Empire’s Periphery and When the Ground Turns in Its Sleep.
