42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Scholarship, June 24, 2006
This review is from: Simon Bolivar: A Life (Hardcover)
I am a novice regarding South American history, though Simon Bolivar has always interested me. A trip to Ecuador, where I saw one of the Liberator's swords in Quito, further spurred my curiosity about him. For those who don't know, Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) was the George Washington of South America, a general who liberated Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Ecuador from Spanish rule. The country of Bolivia, which became a test case in the 1820s for Bolivar's constitutional ideas, is named after him.
Unfortunately, books about the general (and later president) are hard to find in the States. The most popular is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "The General in His Labyrinth," which explored Bolivar's last, frustrated days. In the novel, "El Liberator" is succumbing to consumption and curses the Revolution he had unleashed. No English biography of Bolivar has been written in 50 years. To fill the gap in Bolivar historiography, John Lynch, an Emeritus professor of Latin American history at University of London, has produced a solid work of scholarship. His likely audience for this book would be graduate students about to study for their comprehensive exams or people who are somewhat familiar with Bolivar's accomplishments.
Lynch's book is informative, but isn't as easy to read as some biographies are, such as David McCullough's "John Adams." "Simon Bolivar: A Life" doesn't begin with Bolivar's birth, but an earthquake that rocked Venezuela (place of SB's birth) in 1812. The earthquake was seen by some royalist clergymen as divine punishment for Venezuelans revolting against the Spanish. Lynch's book is relatively brief (300 pages), but dense. One will not find short, reader-friendly paragraphs in these pages. The author does not write for a popular audience, but a learned one. We are given much information, not just about Bolivar's life, but the social, political, and economic aspects of the Revolutionary period in South America (from the 1810s to the 1820s).
Lynch's work will help students of Latin America who must answer such questions as, "how revolutionary was the Revolution? Could Bolivar's model of government have worked?" To some extent, Bolivar's only real accomplishment was throwing off Spanish rule. Slaves in the liberated countries were not freed in the general's lifetime, and the plight of the Indians did not improve very much after the Spanish were defeated. Warlords quickly filled the political vacuum left by the royalist government. Bolivar was a creature of the Enlightenment, but he did not believe that South America could ape the American or French Revolutions. The general sought to apply revolutionary ideas in a South American context: he knew monarchy was disliked, but also that democracy couldn't work. South America's problem was that it was too democratic, too chaotic. When the Spanish left, warlords sought to control local communities at the expense of Bolivar's desire to have a centralized republic. To use an analogy from early U.S. history, Bolivar was more Hamiltonian than Jeffersonian, more a Federalist than a Republican. He knew that the areas his Colombian army did not control were a political free-for-all.
Added to the problem of home rule in South America were racial divisions between the ruling "white" elites (of which Bolivar was one), mixed-race Americans, black slaves, and Indians (Lynch, writing from less politically correct England, never uses the term Native American). Bolivar, who hated racism, struggled with these racial and political divisions. Victory was relatively easy; the peace was what was hard. Bolivar unleashed liberation on a land that was not ready for republicanism. His political dream was a "Gran Colombia" with a strong leader, something along the lines of the British constitutional monarchy (sans the king). But the people didn't want it. As soon as the Spanish were kicked out, the liberated countries wanted to go their own way. Was Bolivar right about the need for a strong, single leader ruling the liberated countries? Or does it even matter, because his centralized republic could never have worked? Such are questions for debate.
In helping answer these historical questions, Lynch's organization of facts and subjects is impeccable. If the book has a flaw, it is that it reads at times more like a history of the Revolutionary period than a biography. As informative as it is, I still didn't quite feel that I had learned enough about Bolivar the man. Overall, Lynch's writing perhaps could use more dashes of romanticism. Still, it is a very good book. As a final note: those who don't know Spanish might want to keep a Spanish dictionary handy. Some words aren't explained or can't be figured out from their context.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable With Some Limitations, November 11, 2006
This review is from: Simon Bolivar: A Life (Hardcover)
This is the first English language biography of Bolivar in approximately 50 years. It is based on a great deal of modern scholarship and authored by a recognized expert on early 19th century Latin America. It is thoughtful and thorough. It is, unfortunately, a somewhat frustrating book. Lynch is a competent, as opposed to good, writer. The narrative tends to skip around a bit and parts are repetitive. Lynch seems also to have had his fellow scholars in mind as the target of this book. The text seems to presuppose a fair prior knowledge of 19th century Latin American history. In several respects, this book seems to be essentially a summary of modern scholarship on Bolivar rather than a full fledged interpretative biography.
Within these limitations, this is a useful book. Lynch does an excellent job of describing Bolivar's complex personality. Lynch emphasizes the continuity in Bolivar's motivations and thinking throughout his career. The product of an elite Venezualan creole family, Bolivar grew up to espouse a complex mixture of idealistic Enlightenment rationalism and romantic nationalism leavened by a healthy dose of pragmatism. His pursuit of personal glory seems also to have a major factor in his incessant pursuit of freedom from Spain. Lynch does well also in describing the highly adverse conditions under which Bolivar pursued his aims. A major theme of the book is the frustration of Bolivar's Enlightenment reformism by the actions of the native elites he set in power and general weakness of civil society in early 19th century South America.
A useful book but one which underscores the need for a major biography.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"The fact is, there are fewer and fewer good books." Simon Bolivar, May 28, 2007
This review is from: Simon Bolivar: A Life (Hardcover)
It is applaudable that Lynch has written the first major English biography of Bolivar in five decades, and it is evident that Lynch knows, and greatly admires, Simon Bolivar. Lynch's extensive research into the life of Latin America's greatest Liberator provides a wealth of information that one is hard pressed to find anywhere else.
However, unlike Gabriel Garcia Marquez's, "The General in His Labyrinth," John Lynch writes a biography that is stilted and reads like a textbook: names, dates, places, events, etc. Never does Lynch help you understand the power of Bolivar's dynamic and engaging personality. Unlike Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose writing breaths life into the dead hero, Lynch preforms an post-mortem examination, identifying part and problems but never resurrecting the great man.
All students of South America should read John Lynch's biography, but also, follow up this textbook with the masterful "The General in His Labyrinth". Conditionally Recommended.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
