The Liberator, Simón Bolívar. Man and Image

This volume edited by Professor Bushnell (University of Florida), a leading authority on Colombian history of the 1820s, adds another collection of readings to the series of Borzoi Books on Latin America, which seem to be designed in considerable measure for the college student market. All the selections are from English sources or in English translation. The first 40% of the readings are Simón Bolivar’s own writings (or, in the case of two short selections, his views as expressed by close associates). This first part of the book includes very substantial portions, though not the complete texts, of his most important statements on political matters, such as the “Jamaica Letter,” his Angostura Address, and his message on the Bolivian constitution. Also reproduced are eight shorter Bolivarian texts, which deal as a rule with significant and interesting aspects of his thought (e.g., his proclamation in 1813 that Spaniards not supporting the war for independence would be shot). The rest of the book consists of selections about Bolívar by certain of his contemporaries and by later writers—in both cases, Spanish American, European, and U. S. citizens. They offer samples of the “cult” and the “anticult” that have long been directed toward the Liberator, and also several modem interpretations of his political and intellectual role that are not precisely cultist or anticultist. The book concentrates on the thought of Bolívar, giving only a little attention to him as a purely military leader. Bushnell contributes an enlightening eight-page introduction, a pithy explanation preceding each document, a thirteen-page chronological outline of the Liberator’s Life, and a useful annotated bibliography.