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Summary: The Great Southern Eruption of Liberty
Review: "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.
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Summary: Liberators: just an excellent book!
Review: After reading this extraordinary book, my opinion of it can be summarized in just one sentence: if you need to understand South America, you ought to read this book. I agree that better editing was needed but that's minor compared with the amazing skills of this author. He gives us enough background information, narrative and details to present a complete picture of this historical period and not jus a partial one as is normally the case. I recommend it for everybody but especially for Americans who always seem to have a perception of South America which is more based on their "Hollywoodesque" upbringing than in real history.
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Summary: Fascinating book, criminally badly editted...
Review: 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, BolÃvar, 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.
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Summary: Fascinating book, criminally badly editted...
Review: 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.
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Summary: A very good book despite the poor editing
Review: I am still reading the book, so I will not give a review as such, just a couple of comments. So far, about 150 pages into the book, I find it extremely interesting and quite informative, Harvey manages to keep you turning the pages and the way he presents history already familiar to some of us is like we are seeing it for the first time. There are many facts (about Bolivar) that are new to me, and present the man for what he was, a human being, rather than the god we were taught about in school in South America. My main complain is that the text was not very well edited prior to publication, there are quite a few names misspelled ( Atanasio Girardot, Ricaurte, and others) as well as obvious errors in some dates. Hopefully such mistakes will be corrected in future editions. Overall I can overlook such silly errors and enjoy a truly great book, I am looking forward to Harvey's book on Captain / Admiral Cochrane which is already in my home library shelves.
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Summary: Liberators: wide and intelligent reading
Review: 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!
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Summary: Fundamentally Flawed
Review: Mr. Harvey has done a commendable job of listing important events and some of the principal figures that participated in the great wave of revolution that freed South America from her colonial masters. However, in tackling so vast a panorama, the author fatally damages his own efforts. Harvey ignores critical leaders, their underlying motivations and critical social and economic undercurrents in an effort to preserve his focus on the more "heroic" liberators. He would have been better served dividing his work between the principal regions: the Viceroyalty of the River Plate, Portuguese Brasil, and New Granada; they are sufficiently different that they should not be treated in the same work, anymore than a history of the United States need necessarily be joined to one of Canada or Mexico. I would not recommend this book given that there are far better and more accurate websites for interested investigators (though most require a knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese).
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Summary: Very insightful account of the liberators of Latin America
Review: This is the best book on the Liberators of Latin America. This book brings to life men like Bolivar, San Martin, and Miranda. Wonderful chapters details the rebellions from the first stirrings in 1780 to the final victories in 1850. It details the liberation of Brazil, and the rest of Spanish America. A good deal of information is provided on the English involvement, their diplomatic missions and their precipitation of war in Argentina. The books downfalls are mostly editing mistakes and a few misspellings along with the occasion flaw in dating. In many ways one wishes the book could expand to include the early life of the new republics. It would be interesting if the author could have covered the `ten years war' between Argentina and Uruguay and the Three nation war where Uruguay, Argentine and Brazil allied to almost annihilate Paraguay. But alas these subjects are beyond the authors framework. The book is not biased and doesn't dather into the obscurity of socialist theory and other revisionist obsessions that many people have for Latin America. What is not fully explained is why the Latin American choose to fight for independence. There is much history on the American revolution and the decision to oppose the British but there is little analysis of what drove these men to declare war on a vastly superior European power(albeit one that was in decline). A very interesting read.
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Summary: Very insightful account of the liberators of Latin America
Review: This is the best book on the Liberators of Latin America. This book brings to life men like Bolivar, San Martin, and Miranda. Wonderful chapters details the rebellions from the first stirrings in 1780 to the final victories in 1850. It details the liberation of Brazil, and the rest of Spanish America. A good deal of information is provided on the English involvement, their diplomatic missions and their precipitation of war in Argentina. The books downfalls are mostly editing mistakes and a few misspellings along with the occasion flaw in dating. In many ways one wishes the book could expand to include the early life of the new republics. It would be interesting if the author could have covered the 'ten years war' between Argentina and Uruguay and the Three nation war where Uruguay, Argentine and Brazil allied to almost annihilate Paraguay. But alas these subjects are beyond the authors framework. The book is not biased and doesn't dather into the obscurity of socialist theory and other revisionist obsessions that many people have for Latin America. What is not fully explained is why the Latin American choose to fight for independence. There is much history on the American revolution and the decision to oppose the British but there is little analysis of what drove these men to declare war on a vastly superior European power(albeit one that was in decline). A very interesting read.
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Summary: Bird's eye view of Latin American independence movements
Review: To cover South American independence movements in the 19th. century in one book is almost impossible.This is the case with "Liberators". The research the author has done for his book is very exhaustive and well done, and the bibliography is very extensive and thorough.The author covers too much "events", and not as much the reasons many of these events took place. Tremendous emphasis is placed on General San Martin.The data is correct and thorough as to events. However, quite frequently the philosophical and historical reasons that prompted privileged people, such as a San Martin and a Bolivar to undertake such herculean tasks as liberating huge continents with very meager military resources lacks depth. Probably due to the fact that the author is British, heavy emphasis is placed on relatively minor English figures(such as Cochran and others.) While no one denies the importance of these English Navy volunteers, their contribution to the independence of Chile and Argentina pales in comparison to the contributions of national patriots.Perhaps because the author has a book on Cochran, such importance is given to that figure. However, I would rate this as an excellent primer, that should open new alleys for readers who are interested in deepening their knowledge of South American history.
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