Salvador De Madariaga "Bolivar" 1952

Kenmerken

Conditie: Gelezen

Gebied: Zuid-Amerika

Beschrijving

Definitive, detailed and dramatic, Bolivar is of absorbing interest. It moves swiftly and easily over a vast scenesimultaneous movements in Buenos Aires, Peru, Bolivia, negotiations and intrigues in all the capitals of Europe. It spans the dissolution of an old order and the birth-pangs of a new. Its echoes will catch the imagination of readers by the accounts of the English, Scotch and Irish adventurers who figure so largely; of the military units raised in England; and of the attitude of the British Foreign Office to the new South American regimes; and American and British cooperation in evolving the Monroe Doctrine, creating a bond of interest that continues to this day.

Though many books have been written about Bolivar, he remains a somewhat enigmatic, if not mysterious, hero. Few writers know so well as Madariaga how to combine with effortless mastery character-analysis with political, military and economic assessment, and scholarly research with enthralling narrative and vivid description. He has endeavoured to recast his portrait as modern perspective demands; and a long voyage in search of the original documents has taken him to all the relevant cities of South America, as well as to the archives of London and Paris. The fresh material thus gathered will be found to shed new and at times unexpected light on one of the most significant and picturesque figures of History, European as well as American.