Book Review #2

The distinguished University of Notre Dame historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of this book review, has a very different perspective on the book by María Arana on Simón Bolívar. In fact, it’s quite negative and contrasts with the laudatory tone of the piece in the Washington Post. A foretaste of the biting review:

…biographers have dismissed Bolívar as mad, condemned him as evil, pitied him as the flawed protagonist of his own tragedy or, most commonly, embraced him as a romantic hero. In “Bolívar: American Liberator,” Marie Arana aligns herself with the hero-worshipers, in prose almost as billowy and romantic as Bolívar’s own.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324020504578396290865694974.html?mod=wsj_valetbottom_email