Muchedumbres y banderas. Estudios históricos

These “studies,” by a Colombian Liberal author and political figure, cover a range of topics from the antecedents of Independence to the historical writings of Laureano García Ortiz. Much the longest, occupying over a third of the book, concerns Vicente Azuero, stalwart apostle of doctrinaire liberalism in the early national period. The book as a whole is quite readable, but it offers no new facts and is for the most part nonscholarly in approach. As for interpretation, the colonial background is viewed in the light of the Black Legend, with emphasis on economic grievances; the treatment of subsequent events follows a fairly conventional Liberal line.