Books: A stylish introduction to the extraordinary life of Simón Bolívar

Our South American Cousin

BY RYAN L. COLE

Bolívar: American Liberator, by Marie Arana (Simon & Schuster, 624 pp.)

At the tip of West Virginia’s eastern panhandle sits the town of Bolivar, population 1,045. Originally named Mudfort, Bolivar changed its name in 1825 as a salute to a Venezuelan rebel whose words and actions echoed those of America’s own founders.

Simón Bolívar’s life, a story unfamiliar to many Americans, is the subject of Marie Arana’s hefty new biography, Bolívar: American Liberator. The book’s two-word subtitle only hints as its subject’s accomplishments: Bolívar was a revolutionary jack-of-all-trades, equal parts Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, with dashes of Hannibal and Napoleon as well. He laid the groundwork for revolt with his eloquent rhetoric, led ragtag armies across thousands of miles, freed six nations, wrote their founding documents, and attempted, with mixed success, to lift their fledgling governments off the ground.

Deeply researched, and a clear labor of love, Bolívar offers a stylish introduction to this great historical figure.

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