Bolivar

American Liberator

De: Marie Arana

Narrado por: David Crommett

It is astonishing that Simón Bolívar, the great Liberator of South America, is not better known in the United States. He freed six countries from Spanish rule, traveled more than 75,000 miles on horseback to do so, and became the greatest figure in Latin American history. His life is epic, heroic, straight out of Hollywood: he fought battle after battle in punishing terrain, forged uncertain coalitions of competing forces and races, lost his beautiful wife soon after they married and never remarried (although he did have a succession of mistresses, including one who held up the revolution and another who saved his life), and he died relatively young, uncertain whether his achievements would endure.

Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, novelist and journalist Marie Arana brilliantly captures early 19th-century South America and the explosive tensions that helped revolutionize Bolívar. In 1813 he launched a campaign for the independence of Colombia and Venezuela, commencing a dazzling career that would take him across the rugged terrain of South America, from Amazon jungles to the Andes mountains. From his battlefield victories to his ill-fated marriage and legendary love affairs, Bolívar emerges as a man of many facets: fearless general, brilliant strategist, consummate diplomat, passionate abolitionist, gifted writer, and flawed politician.

A major work of history, Bolívar colorfully portrays a dramatic life even as it explains the rivalries and complications that bedeviled Bolívar’s tragic last days. It is also a stirring declaration of what it means to be a South American.

©2013 Marie Arana (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

A Bloodbath Of Racial Hatred

He may only have been the necessary evil needed to counter the evil oppressors. The story presented devolves simply into a lifetime of one racially motivated massacre after another. Mindless violence, unconnected to any cause other than that of total annihilation. By the end, Bolivar's vision for an American Liberation becomes only a footnote to all the carnage. He may have originally had good and pure intentions as a young man, but his final legacy is finally only that of extreme violence and vanity. Not the George Washington I know.

Very nice book!

I enjoyed this book, the reader did a good job with all the names, minus “Coro”

Bolivar comes to life

From the beginning I was enthralled by the narration of this great man’s life. Marie Arana documents Simón Bolivar as a prominent young aristocrat living in a Spanish colony and what shaped his anger towards the crown. Seeing the injustices of the royal empire in his native Venezuela lit the fire to wanting to liberate all of South America. He rallied all peoples to believe in his vision to kick the Spanish out of America. The narrator does a great job pronouncing all the names, places correctly. A must for your collection of Great War strategists!

Well written and well read biography

I got this after watching the Netflix series Bolivar. I wanted to know the history of this amazing and strong character. This book is definitely worth listening to if you want to know more of the story. There are not many people in history with the grit, strength, and persistence of Simon Bolivar.

Sympathetic Biography of a Complex Man

It is a shame (one which I share) that so few North Americans know much about the man who liberated massive parts of South America from Spanish rule and sought unsuccessfully to forge them into a single unified nation. Brilliant, vibrant, energetic, a man of enormous talents who brought Enlightenment ideas to bear, Bolivar became a winning general but a less effective statesman. Prone to quick, sometimes erroneous decisions, plagued by both infighting among his generals and divergent nationalists, his United States of South America was not to be. Even so, in his last dark days, sick and relinquishing power, used up physically and emotionally, he provided a hero for future generations and a harbinger for the next two centuries of regional power politics.

Excellent historical work!

You don't hear much about Bolivar he saw the need to undo wrong and did.

Extraordinary man, extraordinary story.

very well researched and exceptionally well written. I found it hard to put down and looked forward to picking it back up.

Absolutely fantastic book!

Marie Arana wrote a great biography of Bolivar, she covered not only the positive but the negative aspects of the man. Arana's prose is often beautiful, it is apparently from the writing she is a novelist turned biographer. The story almost reads as a historical novel, she keeps your attention to every word. Arana brings the story to life, the reader feels as if one is there and part of the action. Bolivar was a 19th Century leader, born in Venezuela.
He was born into a wealthy family and received education both in his home country but also in Spain and France. What he accomplished is mind boggling! The military action lasted twice as long as the U.S. revolution and territory cover was 7 times larger. He led both a revolution and a civil war. Bolivar evicted Spain from a million square miles of territory in an eleven year campaign. Battles fought against a trained Spanish army of superior numbers. His army had to go on superhuman marches though rain swollen jungles and over snow-capped Andes Mountains to fight the battles often with only a few days rest. He freed the area now called Venezuela, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The book explains why Bolivar thought the U.S. type of democracy would not work in South America with it mixed races of creole, indigenous Indians, black slaves, Spanish and other Europeans. Arana explains Bolivar belief, the three hundred years of tyranny by Spain and how, Spain deliberately kept the people un-educated and pitted against each other, were not ready to govern themselves. He thought that at a later date, a British type of government was better, but he made the mistake of setting up the area for rule by dictators . Arana explains how he ended up dying poor and hated by the people but later brought back to hero status. David Crommett did a good job narrating the story and all the Spanish names. If you are interested in history and would like to learn more about our neighbors to the south you will enjoy this book.

Great liberator of the Americas

Fascinating story of the great liberator of South American nations. From revolution to politics to demise he stayed true to the idea of unified America.

An Incredible Life

If you are only tangentially aware of this American icon, this is a perfect place to learn the amazing story of the "Liberator". Sweeping in scope, and detailed in the telling, this biography combines historical sweep with a great storyline. The narration is crisp and clear. Recommended.