Romantic Revolutionary: Simon Bolivar and the Struggle for Independence in Latin America

Romantic Revolutionary: Simon Bolivar and the Struggle for Independence in Latin America by Robert Harvey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't know enough about Simon Bolivar before reading this book. I knew the basics of what probably most people who paid some attention in their history class but do not live in South America know.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I found it an objective look at Bolivar's life and career. It doesn't shy away from pointing out the flaws of the Liberator, even when his intentions were good. It also doesn't shy away from pointing out his own personal flaws - he was self-centered to a point where sometimes the good of the people did not prevail against his own personal interest (best portrayed in his interaction with General San Martin, the less known liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru). Yet, throughout the book the author does tend to underline that compared to most people of his age, Bolivar was sincerely open-minded about class differences, rights of common people and racial equality (despite he himself being of the privileged class). As such, he tried to create a society in which equal rights were a real thing.

Unfortunately, his own ego worked against him many times. But also, it's really hard to create social equality on a society built on exploitation, as other parts of the world also showed. In order to impose his own view of society on the people who actually had the power and influence to maintain it, he had to install a dictatorship. He did not believe in this method enough to really make it effective, but he tried it enough to create a precedent. In such, he set the pace for what will be a conflicted and bloody history of South America.

The book does not shy away from placing the blame where it's due, which is not always out of Bolivar's hands. A less flawed man could have done better. And yet, all in all, the general impression of Bolivar after reading this book is positive - it would have been really hard to turn South America around from its history of racial inequality and exploitation and create an actual equal society in its place. Bolivar tried - but failed.

This book now has raised my interest in reading about the other liberators of South America, the ones that people outside their countries don't learn much about. It's an interesting what-if to ponder - what if one of the "others" would have prevailed in being the "main" one? What if Bolivar's ego had not forced him to try to take center stage and thus try to minimize the "others"? What if a collaborative effort had been attempted?

Highly recommended.

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