Bolivar
The Liberator of Latin America
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
Simon Bolivar freed no fewer than what were to become six countries—a vast domain some 800,000 square miles in extent—from Spanish colonial rule in savage wars against the then-mightiest military machine on earth. The ferocity of his leadership and fighting earned him the grudging nickname “the devil” from his enemies. His astonishing resilience in the face of military defeat and seemingly hopeless odds, as well his equestrian feat of riding tens of thousands of miles across what remains one of the most inhospitable territories on earth, earned him the name Culo de Hierro—Iron Ass—among his soldiers. It was one of the most spectacular military campaigns in history, fought against the backdrop of the Andean mountains, through immense flooded savannahs, jungles, and shimmering deserts. Indeed the war itself was medieval—fought under warlords across huge spaces by horsemen with lances, and infantry with knives and machetes (as well as muskets). It was the last warriors’ war.
Although the creator of the northern half of Latin America, Bolivar inspired the whole continent and still does today. This is Robert Harvey’s astonishing, gripping, and beautifully researched biography of one of South America’s most cherished heroes and one of the world’s most accomplished military leaders, by any standard.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The last of the truly great military commanders before the advent of modern, impersonal warfare, Sim n Bol var led his men through thousands of miles of nearly impassable terrain, undeterred by shattering defeats and unimaginable privations, to liberate six countries from the Spanish Empire. Harvey painstakingly recounts Bol var's victory against seemingly impossible odds and his subsequent descent into the type of megalomaniacal tyranny against which he had fought. Harvey (Liberators), a former British MP and columnist for the Daily Telegraph, makes extensive use of primary sources to chronicle the trials of Bol var's men, crafting a narrative that is granular in its focus on the war's day-by-day progress while remaining cognizant of the grand sweep of history. The book's single-minded attention to tactical matters and military maneuvers, however, is sometimes reminiscent of the box score of a baseball game, and often leaves the reader wanting more about the human culture of the region and the consequences of imperialism and conquest. It is a testament to Harvey's skill that his account of alliances and betrayals, deceptions and grisly executions, liberally interspersed with details of Bol var's many love affairs, remains gripping and illuminates something of the leader's contradictory personality. 24 b&w illus.
