Bolivar: Liberator of a Continent

Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining Novel
Review: Bill Boyd spins a good tale. "Bolivar: Liberator of a Continent," is a great book to read on a long flight or next to a warm fireplace on a cold winter evening.

The author is a graduate of Yale and a scholar of Latin American history. He uses his vast knowledge of South American history to weave fact & fiction into a fasination account of a true "American" hero.

In the author's note at the beginning of the book Boyd explains he uses historial documents and official archives for his personalities and actions. To that end, the dialogue in this book is excellent. It brings Simon Bolivar to life and makes this book a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining Novel
Review: Bill Boyd spins a good tale. "Bolivar: Liberator of a Continent," is a great book to read on a long flight or next to a warm fireplace on a cold winter evening.

The author is a graduate of Yale and a scholar of Latin American history. He uses his vast knowledge of South American history to weave fact & fiction into a fasination account of a true "American" hero.

In the author's note at the beginning of the book Boyd explains he uses historial documents and official archives for his personalities and actions. To that end, the dialogue in this book is excellent. It brings Simon Bolivar to life and makes this book a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Boyd's Bolivar Narrative
Review: Bill Boyd's Boviar: Liberator of a Continent contains fictional dialogue that sometimes reads like it was written for a Broadway musical; however, this thoroughly researched biography reads quickly and gives a genuine sense of the major players involved. Just as the pivotal revolutionary battle of Ayacucho, between Bolivar's army and the Spanish, remains a decisive moment in history, it and the events surrounding it serve as the narrative's pinnacle. The author gives generous treatment to Bolivar's governance after his successful campaigns to liberate the continent, but this should not enhance anyone's cynicism as to the greatness of this man, which Mr. Boyd deftly describes in the epilogue. The book also contains a informative postscripts which thoroughly secures Bolivar's legacy as every officer under his command went on to serve as a major political figure on the continent, a good portion of which were respectively elected president.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Book Does no Justice to Bolivar
Review: Having grown up in Latin America, I have always nurtured a deep curiosity about the Liberator. Prior to reading Boyd's book, I had read a half dozen books on the life of Simon Bolivar.

Unfortunately, Boyd's book is a collosal failure, leaving the reader (assuming he has the stomach and stamina to persevere through this swamp) bewildered, confused, and no more enlightened as to the question of who Simon Bolivar really was. To make matters worse, this trite and superficial book actually sinks low enough to become partially insulting, by effectively trivializing the great Bolivar, and the even greater acts which he accomplished.

While I assume Mr. Boyd might be an satisfactory fantasy book writer, I would ask him to please leave history and biography to authors who hold a certain respect for, and have a depth of understanding about the people and events they write about.

Rating:
Summary: Dramatized and Infantile
Review: Readers should be warned that this book is written like it was meant to be read for the 8 to 12 year old age group. It is not only dramatized, it is also simplified and childish at times. The back cover says it all.

Rating:
Summary: WHY HASN'T ANYBODY MADE THIS INTO A MOVIE YET??
Review: Unknown to most people in this country, the pages of Latin American history books are bursting with great heroes like Simon Bolivar who deserve great Hollywood-style film biographies. Instead, movie producers find it more profitable to make stupid film remakes of stupid '70s tv shows like STARSKY AND HUTCH. I love history and yes, I'm aware that some of the stuff written in this book is either embellished (Bolivar being made to look almost saintly or perfect at times) or simply made up (the actual conversation between The Liberator and Jose de San Martin) but hey, you gotta fill in the blanks somehow, especially in a dramatized novel, right? Other than that, I believe that much of what Mr. Boyd has written is pretty accurate and also entertaining, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the lives of real-life freedom fighters. Peace, bro.

Rating:
Summary: Simplistic biography
Review: When reading a biography, one hopes to learn about the subject and its times. This book provides neither; it describes certain events but fails miserably to describe Bolivar's possible motives for engaging in his quest. It also fails to describe the political realities of the times. The only attempt is made when the author describes his teacher Simon Rodriguez's influence on young Simon. But even then, the author analysis is simplistic and totally off the mark, it attempts to convey the notion that the revolution was the result of a class struggle a la Bolshevik, when in fact all revolutions in the Americas were rebellions against exploitation and taxes from Europe.

Rating:
Summary: Juvenile
Review: Yes, they are seven including Guyana. A nice and easy to read biography of the most important military and statesman in the Meridian America. An interesting twist of the book is the enormous affinity and love that Bolivar felt for the United States of America, a country that he visited in 1806. He had personal contact with Lafayette, Washington, Jefferson, and had a locket with Washington's hair up to his last moment of life. Bolivar's amazing persistence, love for women [his "musae"], physical strength in a minute body, vision of the future, generosity [he ruined himself in fighting his wars], his abolition of slavery [if not final, his conception of it] all, come nicely in this obligatory book in the Bolivar's collection.