Bolivar: The Epic Life of the Man Who Liberated South America

(Paperback)

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Description

The dramatic life of the revolutionary hero Bolivar, who liberated South America - a sweeping narrative worthy of a Hollywood epic.

Simon Bolivar's life makes for one of history's most dramatic canvases, a colossal narrative filled with adventure and disaster, victory and defeat. This is the story not just of an extraordinary man but of the liberation of a continent.

A larger-than-life figure from a tumultuous age, Bolivar ignited a revolution, liberated six countries from Spanish rule and is revered as the great hero of South American history. In a sweeping narrative worthy of a Hollywood epic, BOLIVAR colourfully portrays this extraordinarily dramatic life. From his glorious battlefield victories to his legendary love affairs, Bolivar emerges as a man of many facets: fearless and inspiring general, consummate diplomat, passionate abolitionist and gifted writer.

Reviews

Thrilling, authoritative and revelatory, here at last is a biography of Bolivar, the maker of South America, that catches the sheer extraordinary unique adventure and titanic scale of his life with accessible narrative and scholarly judgement

The case for Bolivar as one of the world's most extraordinary 19th-century leaders is well made by Marie Arana ... Arana's prose is often beautiful. A novelist turned historian, she tells Bolivar's story wonderfully ... Two centuries after his death, Bolivar inflames passions that better-known characters no longer ignite. Arana's biography explains why - OBSERVER

I suspect that one reason why her biography is so plausible and engagingly told is that the Peruvian-born Arana is herself a writer of fiction. Like Garcia Marquez, she has an instinct for the vitalising detail ... As well, his sad and contradictory story demands a novelist's empathy - DAILY TELEGRAPH

Author Bio

Peruvian by birth, Marie Arana is former literary editor of the Washington Post and author of four books: a memoir, American Chica (a finalist for the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and the PEN/MARTHA ALBRAND AWARD); The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work; as well as two novels set in South America: Cellophane (a finalist for the JOHN SARGENT SR. PRIZE) and Lima Nights.

http://mariearana.net/