Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence 1810-1830

by Robert Harvey

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585670723
• ISBN13: 9781585670727
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 561 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly Readable

Harvey has clearly learned something from studying Simon Bolivar: faced with the difficulties and complexities of Latin American politics, he simply charges ahead, relying on energy and pace to see him through. As a result, like Bolivar, he is amazingly successful, despite a number of mistakes along the way. His great strength is his focus on the personalities of seven extraordinary men who deserve to be better known outside South America. The military accomplishments of Bolivar and San Martin in particular merit comparison with Hannibal and Alexander of Macedon. It was especially instructive to read this book soon after finishing the same author's work on North America's war of independence. The suffering of Venezuela alone makes one wonder what right Britain's colonists in North America had to complain about anything: compared with the South American wars, the North American war was a model of gentlemanly restraint on both sides. Yet one also comes to a better appreciation of the true greatness of George Washington. Latin America's great tragedy was that it found no real equivalent of Washington, whose unique combination of personal authority and restraint was essential to making the new republican democracy work. Bolivar had the inclination but not the character, whereas San Martin had the character but not the inclination. Many of Latin America's subsequent problems stem from the absence of a Washingtonian role model there - although Harvey makes the interesting point that the best candidates were probably two men who have been unfairly despised as pantomime emperors, Augustin of Mexico and Pedro of Brazil. This is a marvellous introduction to the history of a continent.

The players and History of the greatest task

If ever there was a task that was which was implausible and ever more needy, it was the liberation of the Americas, not a country but a mere continent. This books explains about the Heroes that made it possible. The peeks that each reached and the low points and disapointments that fallowed. Some would it was inevitable that these disappointments would fallow the liberations because of racists pretentions but this book shows the complicated works that each libarator faced and how they dealt with them after the humongous task of liberating the continent from Spain. This is a great books in many levels. First it tells the story of every major liberator that took part in the Wars. It explains their reason as why they fought, their upbringing, how they dealt with the success and follies and how they all died. Most died in sorrow for they knew what libration might bring and they tried hard to avoid it but they could not push back the History that was already in place and the capricious people who would look only for their own interests and not the people's interest. Their is also horror in these pages, the cruelty of not just war but the terror in which it was fought. People were tortured to send a message on both sides. Their were so many heroes and villians and all of them are discribed in this book. Be warry though because this is not an easy read. It is long and at times dull but this book gives you an excellent idea of that happeend during this period in time. This is a very complete and detailed study of the Liberation. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Great Southern Eruption of Liberty

"Liberators," by Robert Harvey, is the most accessible popular history - in English - of the great spurt of revolution that swept South America in the early 19th century. Harvey uses the story of the Great Men of the revolution in order to weave together the events of the period, beginning with the great Precursor, Francisco Miranda, to the titans of the revolution - Liberators Simon Bolivar and San Martin, not to mention O'Higgins, Mendoza and Sucre, plus the mercenary Sea-Devil, Cochrane. He rounds off with chapters on the bloody rebellions that hit Mexico, plus the saga of Brazil's Emperor Pedro. Of the various players, Miranda comes across as the most sympathetic, mainly because of his cosmopolitan travels (he was a lover of Russia's Empress Catherine) and also becuase he didn't get his hands too bloody. Martin comes across as dour but brilliant; Bolivar, inevitably the star of the show, is painted as a great military leader on the scale of Alexander the Great, whose Andes campaign goes down as one of the greatest in history. As an Englishman, Harvey is at his best telling the story of Miranda and Cochrane, with their connections to Britain - one of whom, Cochrane, was a disgraced Member of Parliament; the other, Miranda, spent some time ingriguing with William Pitt. Also, as one versed in European history, Harvey is adept at drawing links between the Age of Reason, the age of European revolution and the Latin liberation movement.

The freeing of Latin America

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!

Liberators: wide and intelligent reading

I have been a professor of Latin American history for nearly twenty years, and I have never before encountered a more thought-provoking and in-depth discussion of Latin America's quest for independence. Robert Harvey will no doubt enter into the realm of critical acclaim the world over. Stunning!