José “Pepe” Mujica: Warrior, Philosopher, President

Stephen Gregory acknowledges that he wrote his book José “Pepe” Mujica: Warrior, Philosopher, President in about nine months, “from conception to completion” (p. xi). That is an impressive achievement. Unfortunately, the book carries all the hallmarks of a dimly conceived and rushed-together project. We can imagine that the initial conception had promise: to produce a short, accessible volume for university undergraduates and the general public on the life and musings of one of the most intriguing political figures of this hemisphere. It was the obvious intention of author and publisher to not fill the work with scholarly notations while providing a useful glossary and time line. Indeed, for those students and educated lay audiences of the Anglo North Atlantic not plugged into the currents of South American politics, the discovery of a portly farmer and former leftist guerrilla turned president of a...