Populista

The Rise of Latin America's 21st Century Strongman

De: Will Grant

Narrado por: Ed Hughes

Duración: 19 h

Resumen del Editor

'A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.' - Fidel Castro

For more than six decades, Fidel Castro's words have echoed through the politics of Latin America. His towering political influence still looms over the region today.

The swing to the Left in Latin America, known as the 'Pink Tide', was the most important political movement in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century. It involved some of the biggest, most colourful and most controversial characters in Latin America for decades, leaders who would leave an indelible mark on their nations and who were adored and reviled in equal measure.

Parties became secondary to individual leaders and populism reigned from Venezuela to Brazil, from Central America to the Caribbean, financed by a spike in commodity prices and the oil-backed largesse of Venezuela's charismatic socialist president, Hugo Chávez.

Yet within a decade and a half, it was all over. Today, this wave of populism has left the Americas in the hands of some of the most authoritarian and dangerous leaders since the military dictatorships of the 1970s.

©2021 Will Grant (P)2021 Head of Zeus

Reseñas de la Crítica

"An ambitious, riveting and essential book that has much to teach us about the recent history of this region, and about the human impulse towards populism that continues to shape the world." (Ben Rhodes, bestselling author of The World As It Is)

Excelente resumen y datos curiosos poco conocidos

Se exponen las maneras en las que el poder y en la mayoría de los casos, el dinero, hacen que los socialistas busquen esquemas que los perpetue en el poder y se queden con beneficios de actos ilícitos

Good overall survey

The author does a good job of outlining the path to power and decline of six strongmen, building on what most of us already know to shed light on what makes these guys tick and also stay in power. Putting Castro last was deliberate I’m sure, but I would have put him first to provide that context up front. I also would have included the Kirchners in Argentina, which were a notable absence. Chavez and Castro excepted, their story is as interested as any of the others.

There are a few obligatory shots at the US, but except for a few tortured comparisons at the end, I thought the book was fair and engaging and would recommend it to Americans of all stripes.