Recensori in anteprima

Simon Bolivar was the archetypal romantic revolutionary. Born into privilege and nurtured in Rousseau’s philosophy of the homme sauvage, it was not until the young colonial visited Europe that his passion for revolution was lit, sending the young man on a death-defying quest to fight for the people of his homeland, and eventually liberate six South American nations from Europe. Robert Harvey, bestselling author of The War of Wars, brings a lifetime’s fascination to Bolivar: The Liberator of Latin America (A Herman Graf Book). Bolivar’s struggle for liberty is a story of extraordinary courage, leadership, passion, and ultimately personal tragedy. For while he achieved freedom for Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama, the same zeal that made Bolivar a successful revolutionary led him to declare himself a dictator. After several assassination attempts and uprisings, the once great liberator was hounded from office and died while waiting to be exiled. In this thorough biography, which includes intimate diary entries, Harvey explores the complex personality behind the revolutionary, a man whose extraordinary military skills were compared to the likes of Alexander the Great and Napoleon. He vividly recreates the story of the ambitious young man’s campaign and draws a panoramic portrait of South America at the turning of the Spanish Empire.