jonathancrites's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this intense biography, even though I felt like the last third was a little bit of a chore. Bolivar les an incredible life - this needs to be a series from Netflix, ASAP. Recommended.
kfreedman's review
Yes, a book about an dead white man, but helped me understand the history of Latin America’s liberation in a way I never did before. Plus written almost as a novel so definitely entertaining.
jackwwang's review
5.0
Amazingly well-written book of an amazing historical figure that sadly too many North Americans have never heard of.
The author draws a compelling argument that Bolivar, often compared as the George Washington of South America, had actually completed a much more difficult feat in liberating and uniting (at least briefly) a huge swath of South America.
Although he had deep flaws in character, what stands out more were his shining strengths: amazing prescience and vision for his native continent, indispuitable military genius, rare eloquence and sense of poetry, unshaking moral compass, and indefatigable patriotism. This is a great man and a colossus in history, and the author tells us exactly why.
The author draws a compelling argument that Bolivar, often compared as the George Washington of South America, had actually completed a much more difficult feat in liberating and uniting (at least briefly) a huge swath of South America.
Although he had deep flaws in character, what stands out more were his shining strengths: amazing prescience and vision for his native continent, indispuitable military genius, rare eloquence and sense of poetry, unshaking moral compass, and indefatigable patriotism. This is a great man and a colossus in history, and the author tells us exactly why.
anamaria427's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Qué viaje! Un libro muy rico. Capaz de llevarme al pasado lejano y al pasado más reciente con asombro y, de vuelta al presente, con muchos interrogantes para el futuro.
jasonfurman's review
5.0
Violence! Romance! Betrayal! Glory! Failure! All this and more in Marie Arana's excellent biography of Simón Bolívar. It is a pretty conventional great man history starting with birth (actually several generations of Bolívar's family) and ending with death--not counting a short epilogue. In between we follow Bolívar as he gets an education, goes to Europe, and gets involved in the Latin American independence movement. The story that follows is detailed and sometimes hard to follow without the useful maps in the front flap, as Bolívar ends up liberating an area that Arana tells us is larger than Europe or the conquests of Alexander the Great, Napoleon, or many other famous conquerers. Arana does a reasonably nuanced job of going through the various controversies about Bolívar, is largely balanced but generally dismissive of the worst theories about his behavior (e.g., that he wanted to be crowned monarch) and forgiving of others (the vast amount of bloodshed). The contrast between Bolívar's lonely death and bare bones funeral with the way in which the appreciation/legend has grown over time was told quickly in the epilogue but was fascinating and would almost be an interesting book in its own right.
margaret_j_c's review
5.0
A peerless piece of narrative history. It takes an excellent writer to do justice to a figure as fascinating as Bolívar and Marie Arana is just that.
amarj33t_5ingh's review
5.0
What struck me the most about Bolivar was his adamancy. And nowhere is this more better reflected than when Bolivar was taken to meet the Pope by a contemporary. The latter insisted he kiss the Pope's sandals for he was the primary representative of God on Earth post-Christ. Bolivar swiftly retorted that if this indeed was the case then why did the rock of Christ have Christ's sacrosanct cross on his sandals? This hallmarked Bolivar's tendency to overcome all odds. Uncompromising and just, Simon Bolivar's adamancy witnessed him precipitate revolution after revolution in the Americas; to free his people and ensure their progress.
Arana's narrative was comprehensive as well as flowing. She avoids browbeat jargon and crafts an elegant account of a man who is deified in each and every South American nation. And indeed, what a man! The pinnacle of all revolutionary zeal. Bolivar, a handful of revolutionaries who precipitated a tectonic shift in human history. Bolivar, the son of the conquered who rose to become conqueror. Bolivar, we have still not heard the last of him.
Arana's narrative was comprehensive as well as flowing. She avoids browbeat jargon and crafts an elegant account of a man who is deified in each and every South American nation. And indeed, what a man! The pinnacle of all revolutionary zeal. Bolivar, a handful of revolutionaries who precipitated a tectonic shift in human history. Bolivar, the son of the conquered who rose to become conqueror. Bolivar, we have still not heard the last of him.
graywacke's review
4.0
This is a terrific book and a larger than life real-life story, but, goodness, there is so much to tell, I don't know where to begin, or how to sum up. I can't explain Bolivar in a simple straight way without wandering off on convoluted discursive paths in an effort to clarify.
Simón Bolívar was a wealthy and unruly orphan from Caracas who was educated by a random but fascinating assortment of characters, was connected to the highest society, would play badminton with the crown prince of Spain, and later, in Parisian and Italian high society meet many of the leading figures of the day, including Alexander Von Humbolt (who "judged him a puerile man").
Simón Bolívar was a failure, part 1, 2 & 3. His most impressive role in the First Republic of Venezuela was to be exiled instead of executed. The Admirable Campaign that initially made him famous and led to him being named the Liberator and that mostly took place in Colombia, created the Second Republic of Venezuela. This one was wiped out by the Legions of Hell (that's their actual name), a marauding army of ex-slaves loyal to Spain that would rape and pillage through the second republic, massacring a large portion of revolutionary supporters. Bolivar wound up in Jamaica and Haiti. Having finally figured out that he needed to manage the slave revolt if he were to get free of Spain, he invaded again, freed the slaves, promised to undo the racial favoritism and saw his invasion quickly wiped out again. He was chased out by his own revolutionary allies and almost gutted by an ally who was so upset he swung a sword a him to kill (and would later be a loyal supporter of Bolívar).
Simón Bolívar was in a weird place. Spain had done some strange stuff to keep the masses in check in New Spain. The European descendants, Creoles, like Bolívar, were divided from the natives, and from the slaves and a large population of mixed race in what came to be tension driven freezing-in-place of the system. It was these kind of tensions that led to the Legions of Hell to fight against the Creole rebellion, and that made these new rebellious colonies impossible to manage, leading to a variety of regional warlords who no one actually liked. No one liked anyone else, except somehow everyone like the Liberator, Bolívar. So he became to only possible leader. This is just the beginning.
Simón Bolívar was special. It's only at this point that we say he was what the myths say - energetic, elegant, educated, graceful, charming, tougher than everyone else, deeply dedicated to his cause with full integrity, insightful, and finally savvy enough to be dangerous.
Simón Bolívar was the revolution. From this point Bolívar made it happen almost single-handed. His energy was the motor of the revolution, his integrity disarmed, his charm brought devout enemies to join him, his physical prowess won over his army (which included large contingents of British veterans out of work after Waterloo), his personality won over the most intransigent resistance to cooperation, his strategies, many psychological, would set the victories in place. Finally, his statesmanship won over whatever was left.
Simón Bolívar was a butcher. Outside the 800 Spanish prisoners he ordered beheaded over a few days because of rumors of a prison revolt, he lost several armies, saw populations of entire regions drop by 1/3, economies completely break down.
Simón Bolívar was a notorious womanizer. Briefly married, he met widowhood by finding prominent lovers in France, notably the married Fanny du Villars. He took with Josefina "Pepita" Machado almost as a war prize, and once held an entire invasion fleet on hold in port for several days until she could join him. She disappeared somewhere in the Venezuelan wilderness, on the way to meet him. And, most famously, Manuela Sáenz, the married Peruvian who became his final mistress, saving his life during an assassination attempt.
Simón Bolívar was a failure, part 4. He would momentarily reach an amazing high tide where he had freed future Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from Spain, had charmed his rival liberator, San Martín, Liberator of Argentina, out of the picture, was writing his own constitutions and had in a place a very talented successor, Antonio José de Sucre. Alas, his constitution with its life-time president left about everyone horrified, including Henry Clay, his most devout supporter in the unsupportive United States and Lafayette, one his most valued European supporters. Regional animosities, an assassination attempt and tuberculosis finally led him to resign all powers and try to flee his own country, shortly after saying in an important speech, "I am ashamed to admit it, but independence is the only thing we have won, at the cost of everything else." He would die several month after giving up the presidency. He was nearly alone, poor, out of power, unwanted, and finally broken by the news of the assassination of Sucre.
Simón Bolívar is a legend. Quoting Arana, "But, for all his flaws, there was never any doubt about his power to convince, his splendid rhetoric, his impulse to generosity, his deeply held principles of liberty and justice." and later, "The intervening century had made Bolívar a good Catholic, a moral exemplar, an unwavering democrat—none of which he had been during his life."
And, worst of all, Simón Bolívar has become a rallying cry of populist autocrats the like of Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution: "Bolívar purported to hate dictatorships—he claimed he had taken them on only for limited periods and as necessary expedients—but there is little doubt that he created the mythic creature that the Latin American dictator became."
What an insane life.
I picked this up because I had just read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel [b:The General in His Labyrinth|23884|The General in His Labyrinth|Gabriel García Márquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361537151s/23884.jpg|1066730], based on Bolivar's last several months of life, living on little money, very ill and essentially rejected by his continent.
-----------------------------------------------
48. Bolívar : American liberator by Marie Arana
published: 2014
format: 468 page hardcover (603 with notes in bibliography)
acquired: Library
read: Aug 25 - Sep 13
rating: 4
Simón Bolívar was a wealthy and unruly orphan from Caracas who was educated by a random but fascinating assortment of characters, was connected to the highest society, would play badminton with the crown prince of Spain, and later, in Parisian and Italian high society meet many of the leading figures of the day, including Alexander Von Humbolt (who "judged him a puerile man").
Simón Bolívar was a failure, part 1, 2 & 3. His most impressive role in the First Republic of Venezuela was to be exiled instead of executed. The Admirable Campaign that initially made him famous and led to him being named the Liberator and that mostly took place in Colombia, created the Second Republic of Venezuela. This one was wiped out by the Legions of Hell (that's their actual name), a marauding army of ex-slaves loyal to Spain that would rape and pillage through the second republic, massacring a large portion of revolutionary supporters. Bolivar wound up in Jamaica and Haiti. Having finally figured out that he needed to manage the slave revolt if he were to get free of Spain, he invaded again, freed the slaves, promised to undo the racial favoritism and saw his invasion quickly wiped out again. He was chased out by his own revolutionary allies and almost gutted by an ally who was so upset he swung a sword a him to kill (and would later be a loyal supporter of Bolívar).
Simón Bolívar was in a weird place. Spain had done some strange stuff to keep the masses in check in New Spain. The European descendants, Creoles, like Bolívar, were divided from the natives, and from the slaves and a large population of mixed race in what came to be tension driven freezing-in-place of the system. It was these kind of tensions that led to the Legions of Hell to fight against the Creole rebellion, and that made these new rebellious colonies impossible to manage, leading to a variety of regional warlords who no one actually liked. No one liked anyone else, except somehow everyone like the Liberator, Bolívar. So he became to only possible leader. This is just the beginning.
Simón Bolívar was special. It's only at this point that we say he was what the myths say - energetic, elegant, educated, graceful, charming, tougher than everyone else, deeply dedicated to his cause with full integrity, insightful, and finally savvy enough to be dangerous.
Simón Bolívar was the revolution. From this point Bolívar made it happen almost single-handed. His energy was the motor of the revolution, his integrity disarmed, his charm brought devout enemies to join him, his physical prowess won over his army (which included large contingents of British veterans out of work after Waterloo), his personality won over the most intransigent resistance to cooperation, his strategies, many psychological, would set the victories in place. Finally, his statesmanship won over whatever was left.
Simón Bolívar was a butcher. Outside the 800 Spanish prisoners he ordered beheaded over a few days because of rumors of a prison revolt, he lost several armies, saw populations of entire regions drop by 1/3, economies completely break down.
Simón Bolívar was a notorious womanizer. Briefly married, he met widowhood by finding prominent lovers in France, notably the married Fanny du Villars. He took with Josefina "Pepita" Machado almost as a war prize, and once held an entire invasion fleet on hold in port for several days until she could join him. She disappeared somewhere in the Venezuelan wilderness, on the way to meet him. And, most famously, Manuela Sáenz, the married Peruvian who became his final mistress, saving his life during an assassination attempt.
Simón Bolívar was a failure, part 4. He would momentarily reach an amazing high tide where he had freed future Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from Spain, had charmed his rival liberator, San Martín, Liberator of Argentina, out of the picture, was writing his own constitutions and had in a place a very talented successor, Antonio José de Sucre. Alas, his constitution with its life-time president left about everyone horrified, including Henry Clay, his most devout supporter in the unsupportive United States and Lafayette, one his most valued European supporters. Regional animosities, an assassination attempt and tuberculosis finally led him to resign all powers and try to flee his own country, shortly after saying in an important speech, "I am ashamed to admit it, but independence is the only thing we have won, at the cost of everything else." He would die several month after giving up the presidency. He was nearly alone, poor, out of power, unwanted, and finally broken by the news of the assassination of Sucre.
Simón Bolívar is a legend. Quoting Arana, "But, for all his flaws, there was never any doubt about his power to convince, his splendid rhetoric, his impulse to generosity, his deeply held principles of liberty and justice." and later, "The intervening century had made Bolívar a good Catholic, a moral exemplar, an unwavering democrat—none of which he had been during his life."
And, worst of all, Simón Bolívar has become a rallying cry of populist autocrats the like of Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution: "Bolívar purported to hate dictatorships—he claimed he had taken them on only for limited periods and as necessary expedients—but there is little doubt that he created the mythic creature that the Latin American dictator became."
What an insane life.
I picked this up because I had just read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel [b:The General in His Labyrinth|23884|The General in His Labyrinth|Gabriel García Márquez|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361537151s/23884.jpg|1066730], based on Bolivar's last several months of life, living on little money, very ill and essentially rejected by his continent.
-----------------------------------------------
48. Bolívar : American liberator by Marie Arana
published: 2014
format: 468 page hardcover (603 with notes in bibliography)
acquired: Library
read: Aug 25 - Sep 13
rating: 4
georgea_1234's review
4.0
The story of Simon Bolivar was something that I was interested in reading. Originally coming from South America, the name Bolivar was always a name that I knew was important. Some sort of liberator that was almost the equivalent of George Washington. At over 600 pages, this biography was perhaps a little more than I was hoping for in terms of detail. Arana had obviously done exceptional research in putting the stories, setting the scenes and focussing on the details of the players in the story. At times this was too much, with detail focussed on people who were only part of the story for a short amount of time. The author also is very much in favour of Bolivar and it comes across as overly supportive of someone who is quite often criticised for the decisions he made in the revolution against the Spanish and the later civil war. Otherwise there is some clunky use of language which made me wince and I had to push hard to get through to the end, but a worthwhile effort to learn more about this almost mythical individual.