Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence - History Book on Latin American Revolution & Freedom Fighters - Perfect for Students, Historians & Latin American Culture Enthusiasts

Harvey has clearly learned something from studying Simon Bolivar: faced with the difficulties and complexities of Latin American politics, he simply charges ahead, relying on energy and pace to see him through. As a result, like Bolivar, he is amazingly successful, despite a number of mistakes along the way. His great strength is his focus on the personalities of seven extraordinary men who deserve to be better known outside South America. The military accomplishments of Bolivar and San Martin in particular merit comparison with Hannibal and Alexander of Macedon. It was especially instructive to read this book soon after finishing the same author's work on North America's war of independence. The suffering of Venezuela alone makes one wonder what right Britain's colonists in North America had to complain about anything: compared with the South American wars, the North American war was a model of gentlemanly restraint on both sides. Yet one also comes to a better appreciation of the true greatness of George Washington. Latin America's great tragedy was that it found no real equivalent of Washington, whose unique combination of personal authority and restraint was essential to making the new republican democracy work. Bolivar had the inclination but not the character, whereas San Martin had the character but not the inclination. Many of Latin America's subsequent problems stem from the absence of a Washingtonian role model there - although Harvey makes the interesting point that the best candidates were probably two men who have been unfairly despised as pantomime emperors, Augustin of Mexico and Pedro of Brazil. This is a marvellous introduction to the history of a continent.