Facundo: Or, Civilization and Barbarism (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Domingo F. Sarmiento (Author), Mary Peabody Mann (Translator, Contributor) "The Continent of America ends at the south in a point, with the Strait of Magellan at its southern extremity..." (more)
Key Phrases: gaucho outlaw, country commandant, Buenos Ayres, San Juan, Argentine Republic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Written in political exile by one of Argentina's greatest statesmen and intellectuals, this work is ostensibly a biography of the gaucho "barbarian" Juan Facundo Quiroga. It is also a complex and passionate investigation of the dialectic of civilization and barbarism. Sarmiento explores the impact of Argentinian geography on the life of the gaucho, chronicles the upbringing and the often bloody political and military adventures of Facundo, and examines the reign of Juan Manuel de Rosas, the tyrannical ruler of Argentina at the time of Sarmiento's writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140436774
• ISBN-13: 978-0140436778
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #463,151 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one classic argentine's book, May 20, 2001

By	Marina Paula Boschi "oboschi" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews

It's difficult to classify "Facundo" written by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (argentine thinker, politician and educator) in 1845: it is at the same time history, myth, essay, pamphelt and sociological discourse. It was published for first time as a newspaper serial in Chile where Sarmiento was in exile and written against Rosas'dictatorchip in Argentina. The text is influenced by the Enlightment and specially by the romanticism. Because of the romantic influence, it tells Facundo Quiroga's biography since for romantic'stream a "great man" (Facundo in this case) expresses an epoch. This book has the intention of solving an enigma: how independence's revolution in Argentina (1810) reached Rosas ' dictactorship (1835-1852) This drama, product of the revolution, was caused by the combination of 2 elements which shouldn't have been combined: the city, civilization's field, and the countryside, barbarism's field. The book can be read as the city and the countryside were the characters.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neither vague nor an "account", March 3, 2006

By	Martin Monreal (New York) - See all my reviews

This is NOT, like other reviewer says, an account of Revolutionary Argentina in the 19th century (the period of civil war that followed the independence from Spain). This is not a book of history. Sarmiento is much more than a mere witness/narrator of a period. He is a man of letters, a writer -and one of the very best from Argentina- it takes you only the reading of the first sentence "Oh, Shadow of Facundo..." to realize that you are in the dark territory of myth, not of the clean, sunny history classroom.

This book, like many great books, escape the incarceration of genre, but if there is one thing it demands from the reader is a capacity for being amazed, for being swept away by the story and the writing itself.

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vague Account of Revoultionary Argentina, October 6, 2005

By	K. Spoden "British/Western Civilization Histo... (Chicago,Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are very few primary sources one can find when studying Latin American revloutions, with Argentina being the subject here. This being a primary source, isn't one that should be taken for an overall look on the Argentina Revoultion. Sarmiento has a sort of bias that shouldn't be taken too seriously. It is hard to get really a good account of Juan Facundo Quiroga because he is such a vague figure in Argentinian history. This is probably the only elaborate interpretation of the figure. Sarmiento also has a sort of habit to go off on tangents on things that are totally irrelevant to the subject matter at hand.

Domingo F. Sarmiento is of European descent and has a biased for "civilization" and defies everything that is "barbaric" as he puts it, which really is what the story is about, and his protest to Rosas one of the leaders of Argentina at the time this story was written who is also "barbaric". The author compares "civilizations" and "barbarism" and how the "barbaric" gauchos are a threat to society. Facundo is a gaucho and is interpreted by Sarmiento as a dicator who made is way to the top by hate and carelessness and is partially at fault for the state of "deterioration" that Argentina was presently in during mid-19th century Argentina.

All criticism aside, one does get good descriptive imagery of the man that was Juan Facundo Quiroga. Due to the fact that this book was written on a sort of bias, it would be better if it was written under a more accurate scholarly account, but then again it is a novel and that is what makes it interesting. It is by no means a useful primary source.