Walter D. Mignolo is the William H. Wannamaker Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Global Studies and the Humanities at Duke University. This book is the third of a trilogy that includes "The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization" and "The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options". He is also the author of "The Idea of Latin America".