Bolivar

February 18, 2013
The George Washington of South America cuts a dashing though dark-edged and ultimately tragic figure in this rousing biography. Peruvian journalist Arana (American Chica) chronicles Gen. Simón Bolívar’s struggle against the Spanish Empire in the 1810s and ’20s through several dizzying cycles of battlefield victory, triumphal procession, demoralizing reversal, and squalid exile, before he finally drove imperial forces out of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Her vivid portrait shows us a charismatic man of high ideals, fiery oratory, unflagging energy and resolve, bold strategies, and a romantic aura—“he rode, ragged and shirtless... his wild long hair riding the wind”—that women found irresistible. (His preeminent mistress was no slouch herself: she once took up a sword to protect him from assassins.) Behind the epic marches, picturesque battles, and swirling ballroom scenes, the author smartly fills in the troubled background of the revolution, which descended from Enlightenment principles into bloody civil and racial conflict and grisly massacres that Bolívar sometimes fomented; his tense rule over politically fractious republics also declined from a vision of freedom and unity to an unpopular authoritarianism. Arana’s dramatic narrative is appropriately grand and enthralling, if a tad breathless, and it makes Bolívar an apt embodiment of the ambitions and disappointments of the revolutionary age. 8 pages of color photos, 2 b&w maps. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM.

April 1, 2013

The cliche goes that history is written by the winners; in the case of Simon Bolivar, a remarkable military leader who liberated six South American countries from Spanish rule, this is not the case. Bolivar's legacy has been tarnished by many right up to the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Arana (former editor in chief, Washington Post Book World; Lima Nights) presents a human story of a wealthy Creole who, inspired by Enlightenment ideas, sought to bring South Americans of all colors responsible and representative government. As Arana aptly points out, his vision of equality went much further than the ideals of George Washington. Today, Bolivar is viewed either as the archetype of the Latin American strongman or an impossibly faultless crusader of equality. In her work, Arana adeptly finds the statesman behind the images. Drawing on Bolivar's voluminous correspondence and political writings, she assembles a chronological narrative that does justice to both Bolivar's august achievements and his human imperfections. This well-rounded work reveals not just an accomplished military tactician but also an able statesman. VERDICT This vivid biography flows smoothly and makes an important contribution to Bolivarian studies. It should appeal to readers both lay and academic, the more so as this is the bicentennial year of Bolivar's first independence campaign. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/12.]--Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM

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