Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence [Hardcover]

Robert Harvey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2000

In this "informative and inspiring volume" (Chicago Tribune), Robert Harvey reconstructs in vivid detail the gripping story of Latin America's independence and those who made it possible. Treated with contempt by their Spanish overlords, given to dissipation and grandiose proclamations, these fearless men nonetheless achieved military feats unsurpassed elsewhere in history. The aristocratic Simón Bolívar led his guerilla armies through swamp, jungle, and Andean ice to surprise his enemies and liberate most of northern South America. The inarticulate San Martín joined Bernardo O'Higgins, illegitimate son of a Spanish viceroy, to do the same in the south. These and five others waged the war for freedom against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, the American Revolution, the collapse of the Spanish Empire, and the revolutionary ferment of the nineteenth century. Despite the success of their revolutions, all seven liberators died in poverty, disgrace, or oblivion.

This fascinating and dramatic story takes in a vast range of martial experience, from butchery in the torrid Orinoco basin to a cavalry fought with lances 13,000 feet up in the mountains of Peru. It is one of the greatest and least-known epics of history, told here in unprecedented detail.

"A splendid old-fashioned read for those who like their history rich and romantic." (Foreign Affairs)

"Liberators is a lively, engaging introduction to a great turning point in the history of our hemispheric mates." (Houston Chronicle)

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1780, a Peruvian-born Spanish count named Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui organized a revolt against the Spanish crown, one that briefly united thousands of Indians in a 10-month war against Peru's European conquerors. The revolt was eventually crushed, and the count was torn apart by horses after having his tongue cut out.

Condorcanqui's revolt is all but forgotten today. But it set off events that continue to reverberate, writes Robert Harvey. Less than half a century later, across Latin America, "Spain's empire had vanished without a trace, as had Portugal's dominion over Brazil." This astoundingly rapid loss of empire was the work of a handful of sometimes flawed but gifted reformers such as Simón Bolivar, José de San Martín, and Bernardo O'Higgins, who followed George Washington's then recent example and organized great armies of liberation against powers they had come to regard as foreign. These leaders paid a great price--all of them, and others Harvey profiles, died violently--for revolts that sometimes replaced one inhumane regime with another, but that, Harvey observes, at least pointed the way toward "the independence and self-respect for which the Liberators fought so hard."

A former correspondent for The Economist, Harvey writes with particular attention to England's relations with Latin America, from failed invasions of Argentina and Nicaragua to more fruitful alliances with progressive movements throughout the hemisphere. By linking developments in Latin America to political movements in North America and Europe, he does much to remove the air of isolation and exceptionalism that surrounds so much historical writing about the region. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

With the verve of an engaging storyteller and the intrepidness of a journalist, Harvey (Portugal; Fire Down Below; etc.) presents an ambitious account of the seven men who swiftly and defiantly liberated Latin America from centuries of Iberian rule: Francisco de Miranda, Sim?n Bol!var, Jos? de San Mart!n, Bernardo O'Higgins, Lord Thomas Cochrane, Augustin de It#rbide and Pedro de Braganza. Harvey vividly peppers his retelling of the glorious and bloody battles fought in the name of freedom with intriguing anecdotes and detailsAfrom descriptions of brilliant military strategy, illicit love affairs, intrigue, betrayal and murder to idealism, intelligence and amazing bravery. In his zeal for his protagonists, Harvey sometimes defies objectivity and wanders into sensationalist territory, but this remains primarily a grounded and serious study. Harvey's ability, moreover, to place the Latin American-Iberian struggle within the context of worldwide events (Napoleon's battles in Europe, the North American colonies' revolt against British rule) is admirable. In the final chapter ("The Legacy"), Harvey compares the postliberation progress of the U.S. with that of Latin America and foreshadows the political tyranny, instability and socioeconomic stagnation afflicting the latter in modern times. Although he remains optimistic about the potential of Latin America, his quick and simplistic leap from the late 19th century to the 21st leaves the legacy incomplete. This is an important work on a neglected historical subject. It was widely praised in England and will be here as well, and the Latino market, especially in southern California and Florida, is huge, so the book should generate solid demand. Maps and illus. Agent, John Murray. Regional author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 524 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st edition (October 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585670723
• ISBN-13: 978-1585670727
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,711,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The freeing of Latin America, September 26, 2002

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence (Mass Market Paperback)

I must confess to knowing next to nothing about the history of Latin America. Oh sure, I can give you the names of the Conquistadors, and rattle off the names of the "freedom fighters" like Bolivar, O'Higgins and such, but when it comes to detail about the revolutions South of the US, I was completely ignorant! This book has changed all of that, and I am very grateful to the author. He has presented the liberation of the southern hemisphere in a quite lucid way, with excellent writing and fantastic character sketches of all the major players. This is not dry, dusty history, but history come alive with vivid prose and descriptions. In a book that's not exceptionally long, you get a rather detailed retelling of the various wars for independence in Latin America, with emphasis on the men who fought them in a leadership role. Your interest is captrued from the beginning, and is tightly held until the end of the work. I now know much more about our neighbors to the South than I did before, and I am grateful to the author for that knowledge. This ia a book that I can highly recommend!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book, criminally badly editted..., November 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence (Hardcover)

As a Venezuelan, I was looking for a book on the independence struggle free of the tedious hero-worship that pervades Venezuelan historians' writing on Miranda, Bolívar, Sucre and the rest. This book is a good choice in that regard, full of fun annecdotes and interesting insights.

What's inexcusable are the dozens of little mistakes, place-names that are misspelled (Guiria?!? Guatiré!?!), dates that are plainly wrong, etc. etc. At one point, Harvey screws up the name of one of his main characters! After writing an entire, and very entertaining chapter about Francisco de Miranda, he finishes it off with a stylish, perceptive passage about...Fernando de Miranda! Did anyone copy-edit this thing?! Can they be summarily executed, pretty-please?

The thing about such inexplicable gaffes is that they don't do anything for your faith in the rest of the guy's narrative. If he gets simple things like that wrong, why should I believe the rest of his story? It leaves this nagging suspicion in the back of your head, you're never quite sure whether you can trust him after that.

Still, the overall narrative is gripping and fun, and it's just a puzzle to me how he could've been so careless with the easy stuff.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Liberation of an Entire Continent, November 26, 2003

By 

Marco Antonio Abarca (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence (Mass Market Paperback)

By almost any measure, the liberation of Latin America dwarves the American War of Independence. In terms of landmass, this struggle ranged continously from Mexico down in Chile and Argentina. During this fifteen year conflict, several hundred thousand people died. Major battles were fought in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile and Peru. A once tranquil Empire was devastated and a host of new nations arose from the destruction.

The Liberation of Latin America is an epic story and the strategy that Robert Harvey uses to tell it is to focus on the lives of the key leaders of the struggle. In this book, we meet the great Liberator, Simon Bolivar, the Protector Jose de San Martin, the Scotish Sea-Wolf Lord Cochrane, the nobel Sucre, the indomitable Padre Hidalgo and finally the Emperor and Freedom Fighter Dom Pedro I. Truly a cast of larger than life characters.

Robert Harvey has written a popular history for the general public. This book is not likely to end up as a college text book nor will it be respected by serious historians. It is a good solid read about an interesting historical period. My only regret is that Harvey is not a truly great writer. This epic story desrves its own Prescott, Catton or Tuchman.