Best biography of simon bolivar
•
Bolivar
“Finally, Bolivar gets the sweeping biography he deserves. He was the greatest leader in Latin American history, and his tale is filled with lessons about leadership and passion. This book reads like a wonderful novel but is researched like a masterwork of history.”
– Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs
“This is a magnificent story. Deeply researched and written with clarity, honesty, and verve, Marie Arana’s book tells the life of one of the greatest heroes and founders in world history.’”
– Gordon S. Wood, author of Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, –, Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University
“With the eye and ear of a novelist, Marie Arana chants the epic of Bolivar with love, zest, and compelling authority.”
– Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
“Simon Bolivar has found the perfect biographer in
•
Reading the Best Biographies of All Time
Bolívar: American Liberator
by Marie Arana
pages
Simon & Schuster
Published: April
Bolívar: American Liberator by Marie Arana was published in to wide acclaim. Arana is a Peruvian-American author of both fiction and non-fiction. She has written for The New York Times and Time Magazine and served as editor-in-chief of the Washington Posts book review section. Her latest book Silver, Sword and Stone offers a sweeping review of Latin American history.
Like many of the individuals I read about, Simón Bolívar () seems to be a biographers dream. He was born into wealth but died destitute, lost his parents at an early age, traveled the world as a youth, lost his new bride to disease, liberated six countries from Spanish rule, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt and enjoyed a spirited romantic life.
Nevertheless, this is a biography about which I feel surprisingly ambivalent. Its strengths are notable
•
In this week's magazine, Jon Lee Anderson profiles Hugo Chávez Frías, the President of Venezuela, who wants to reshape the Latin-American political landscape. Here Anderson provides a guide to the books and online sources crucial to understanding Chávez, his troubled nation and continent, and his great model, Simón Bolívar.
Over the past century and a half, the life and times of Simón Bolívar have inspired an extensive international bibliography, but there fryst vatten little available in English. "Bolívar," bygd Salvador dem Madariaga (Pellegrini & Cudahy, ), and "Simón Bolívar," by Gerhard Masur (University of New Mexico, ), are generally regarded as the best biographies. Although hard to find, "Selected Writings of Bolívar, ," in two volumes, edited by Harold A. Bierck, Jr. (Bolivarian Society of Venezuela and the Colonial Press, ), is a fascinating, well-translated English-language compilation of Bolívar's letters, proclamations, and public addres