Bolivar: American Liberator Book Review, A Masterful Biography about Latin America by Marie Arana

Simon Bolívar

Hello, everyone. Here is my first ever book review that I’ll be doing. The book that I’m going to review, Bolívar: American Liberator, is one of the first books that solidified in me the importance of reading and developing a good habit of reading books. When we think of the Latin American continent, we think of the many issues facing it: corruption, shifting crime rates, poverty, centralized authority, government mismanagement, autocracy, rigged elections, and the social class struggles. It isn’t a strange fact to anyone on why Latin America has always been, ever since the Spanish American Wars of Independence, in a struggling regional conflict of its own, having an array of problems on upholding democracy, and promoting to its citizens the idea of self-governance. All of these problems can be traced back to the late 18th century all the way towards the early 19th century when the majority of the Latin American countries were colonies under the Spanish crown. The idea of self-governance has always been a strange one to Latin Americans due to history of the rigid social hierarchy that the region experienced under the banner of Spain. It is no secret on why Simon Bolívar, the general responsible for liberating six nations (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia), famously stated that Latin Americans were unprepared to live in a US styled democracy due to certain characteristics that Latinos tend to embody. Bolivar claimed that Latin Americans were ignorant and impatient to self-govern themselves after being systematically deprived of civil liberties throughout the Spanish occupation of Latin America. Simon Bolívar, over the years, became a God-like figure for Latinos. A mentor that they look up to for his guidance and philosophy of democracy, freedom, and how Latinos can embody those teachings that he left in order to make the region as he envisioned. Scroll down for the book review!

“Nothing is more dangerous than letting power stay vested in the same citizen.”— Simon Bolívar

Marie Arana’s Writing Style in Bolivar: American Liberator

Marie Arana masterfully balances the writing of this book, Bolivar: American Liberator, between a biography and novel. Every sentence has a dramatic flare, emphasizing Marie’s writing as rich, vivid, and colorful as she describes certain events that happened during Bolivar’s childhood, formation in Europe during the Enlightenment Age, and key events in the Latin American Revolution that paved the path to the region’s independence. This book reads more like a novel while balancing the key aspects of a biography. It is where this novel’s writing style excels, but it gives way to a weakness. Biographies have to lean more towards a factual account of the historical figure’s life. Having a biography that reads like a novel can lead to superficialities at certain times, disturbing the flow of the narrative. Even though this book’s weakness is it’s writing style, balancing the sentence structure between a novel and biography, it doesn’t discredit the fact that the author gives us through the writing a colorful, vibrant, and dynamic narrative of a man who dedicated his life for Latin American independence.

Simon Bolivar: American Liberator, the main character of the book

Simon Bolivar is the general who is responsible for orchestrating the military campaigns in the Latin American region that shook the banner of Spain off the South American shores. Bolivar was born at a time where the Enlightenment was the dominant philosophical outlook emphasizing individual liberty, reasoning, challenging the combined powers of religious and governmental institutions, science, progress, etc. During this time, Spain was embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, with Napoleon ascending to the Spanish throne, back in Europe and many Latin Americans were starting to question their colony’s involvement with the wars. Many thought that the colonies didn’t have nothing to do with the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and started to rebel against the Spanish presence in the colonies.

Enter: Simon Bolivar: After his formation in Europe, Bolivar declared in Rome’s Monte Sacro hill that he will not rest until his homeland was free from the tyranny of Spain. When he initiated his movement for independence, Bolivar learnt from his early defeats that the revolution was only going to be won if he united all of the races that were deprived under the Crown. He negotiated for soldiers and ammunition with the recently freed blacks from Haiti, the pirates of the Caribbean (nope, not Disney related), the natives, mulattos, and all the other races inhabiting the continent at that time. He even got help from the British, who went off to the South American continent to fight a war in which the soldiers that they joined were barefoot carrying sticks and machetes as weapons. An interesting fact about Bolivar is that he rode 75,000 miles, from Venezuela to Bolivia, on horseback to accomplish this difficult feat of defeating one of the most powerful empires in human history. Even though Bolivar shook the formidable Spanish banner off the coast, the creation of a nation state was the biggest conflict that he faced and struggled to preserve, which created the foundations of centralized authority for Latin American countries.

Bolivar and the Seeds of Centralized Authority in Latin America

The creation of the national governments in Latin America were formed during the wars of independence and this is where the liberators, the group of generals who fought against Spain, didn’t do well. It is extremely difficult to shape healthy and democratic governments when the region is consumed by war. During the Latin Wars of Independence, once a city or town was freed from Spanish authority, the liberators would sit with the new representatives of the colonies to discuss the creation of national governments and draft constitutions, a political tool that the present day dictators of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua utilize to stay in power. All of these liberators that sat in the halls of assemblies would report back to Simon Bolivar about the issues debated in order to move these priorities further. Bolivar was wary about the US democratic system being imposed in Latin America due to the volatility and rigidity of the social classes. He insisted that the best way to keep the nation state of La Gran Colombia, which consisted of the six nations he liberated as departments, or subdivision states, was to centralize authority into a powerful executive branch. However, many liberators and their allies were opposed to Bolivar’s idea of centralizing since it would allow one branch of government to become more powerful than the other. As more assemblies and debates happened, clashes followed and the state of La Gran Colombia began to crumble as government factions between those who supported decentralization versus centralization destabilized the continent once more. Crumbling before his eyes, Bolivar decided to declare himself dictator to preserve the state of La Gran Colombia and to keep pushing for a confederation of all the Latin American countries united under a single government and flag since he was the unifying figure for many. However, this dream of his, to annex all of the countries, was never fully realized and laid the many foundations of the present issues that Latin America faces.

The Legacy of Bolivar and the Challenges Facing Latin America Today

Death of Simon Bolivar

Bolivar’s legacy is huge in Latin America today. If you were to visit any city in Latin America, you’ll always find a plaza, monument, or any building named in honor of him. In the streets of the northern South American countries, there’ll be times where civilians will shout, “Long live, Bolivar, our liberator,” following a unison of chants, “May he live.” It is quite interesting that it still happens around the streets of those northern countries to this day since Bolivar himself passed away on December in the year of 1830 due to illness and fatigue. There’s nothing quite like it today. In the United States, Americans mention at times the names of the Founding Fathers but not overwhelmingly Bolivar as Latin Americans chant. It may be due to the fact that Bolivar’s influence and magnetic presence is still felt in these Latin American countries and that his ideas of freedom and democracy are still driving Latinos towards what’s possible for the South American continent. Today, Latin America is one of the most volatile regions in the world due to its weak governance, insecurity, lack of scientific and technological advancements, lack of checks and balances to balance the branches of government, lack of education, and shifting crime rates. Over the years, the people of Latin America have learned, through Bolivar’s ideals of democracy and freedom, with every government on how to make better decisions at the polls in an effort to strengthen democracy and to hold their leaders accountable. Some countries have been able to transcend from the worst authoritarian leaders to a stable democratic government, while others haven’t been so fortunate.

RATE: 4/5

This concludes my review of the life of one man, who dedicated his life to the independence and freedom of Latin America. It was Bolivar who rode up and down the continent for 75,000 miles on horseback in many different geographical locations to shake the Spanish flag off the South American shores.

HERE IS THE LINK TO GET THE BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Bolivar-American-Liberator-Marie-Arana/dp/1439110204

PLEASE FOLLOW @JESLITERATI ON INSTAGRAM