Simón Bolívar’s Quest for Glory

Abstract

In recent years, English-language biographies of Simón Bolívar have become more numerous; with the approach of the bicentenary of Spanish America’s wars of independence, doubtless more will be forthcoming. Some may offer groundbreaking or novel interpretations of the Liberator’s life. Others may simply recapitulate familiar episodes, perhaps amplifying on features of his infuriatingly complex character or providing us with more detail of a career impressive for his military accomplishments and controversial for his role in the political life of the new republics. In this unusual collaborative effort—a project begun by the late Jane Lucas De Grummond and completed by Richard Slatta—the authors have elected to focus on Bolívar’s military career, a choice that explains the book’s inclusion in Texas A&M University’s military history series. Given the continuing public fascination with Bolívar (particularly in president Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) and the persistent academic debates over virtually every aspect of his life, the authors have tried to bridge the ever-widening gap between the hagiographic literature of Bolivarian cultists and the modern scholarly assessments that properly emphasize popular movements, the role of women, or the place of the Spanish American wars of independence within the broader context of revolution in the transatlantic world. Not surprisingly, Bolívar’s reputation does not fare so well in the latter accounts.Though the authors acknowledge Bolívar’s flaws, notably his authoritarian and egotistical personality, their judgments about the Liberator’s life and career are more often in accord with the older, celebratory literature than with the more critical analyses of recent scholarship. In their recounting of some of the most controversial episodes in Bolívar’s career—for example, his putative “betrayal” of Francisco de Miranda to the Spanish or his bitter disputes with Francisco de Paula Santander—the authors are generally apologetic for Bolívar’s actions. In other places, they raise issues that beg for more detail—for example, the suggestion that the Liberator may have suffered from bipolar disorder—yet do not fully explore their implications for understanding Bolívar’s career. Not surprisingly, the biography commences with some familiar comparisons between the Liberator and George Washington (who was more aristocratic in his demeanor than Bolívar), but the authors do not fully explain why the legendary hero of the British American War of Independence has fared so much better in revolutionary-age biographies.In completing De Grummond’s manuscript, Slatta has done an able—even exemplary—job. Certainly, this account of the Liberator’s career will occupy an important niche in the literature. But its contribution is principally one of reaffirmation of what we know about Bolívar and his place in the history of the Spanish American struggles for independence and not a challenging or insightful reappraisal of either the man or his times.