David Bushnell’s long-established mastery of Colombian history is once again displayed in these essays, which deal with topics from the independence period to the 1930s and 1940s. Several of the essays are relatively slight pieces. The first compares the tendency of Colombian scholars since 1945 to glorify Simón Bolívar as a social democrat (for example, Indalecio Liévano Aguirre, Hermes Tovar Pinzón) with the darker tints applied to Francisco de Paula Santander. Bushnell offers a quiet defense of the founder of the republic, pointing to his commitment to public education as well as the rule of law.A second essay, originally published in the HAHR in 1950, describes the news papers of the 1820s, noting the role of subsidies (in the form of government subscriptions) in sustaining pro-government media. A third piece, originally published in a Colombian journal of limited distribution in 1982, seeks to reveal the identities of those few Venezuelan public men who supported Santander in the election of 1825.A fourth article, dating from the 1980s, discusses the changing patterns in representations on postage stamps, from the federation of 1863 – 86 through the Regeneration of 1886 – 1903 and its immediate aftermath. The Radicals of the 1860s and 1870s, rejecting the idea of dominance of personalist leaders, refrained from displaying Colombian heroes on stamps during their period of dominance. The Regeneration celebrated such centralist heroes as Antonio Nariño, Bolívar, Antonio José de Sucre, and Rafael Núñez himself. The post-Regeneration regimes, attending to the centenary of the Independence movement, printed stamps honoring martyrs of the Independence: Camilo Torres, José Acevedo y Gómez, and Policarpa Salavarrieta. The post-Regeneration government, signaling a move toward party conciliation after the War of a Thousand Days, also finally recognized Francisco de Paula Santander.Relatively slight as the essays discussed above may be, they all bear the mark of Bushnell’s distinctive style — attention to detail in evidence, serene impartiality, and a wry, gentle sense of humor. These qualities are also evident in the three much more substantial essays in the collection. The first, probably the best known in the Atlantic world, is his essay on Bolívar’s dictatorship, published in the HAHR in February 1983. The article discusses the beginning of the dictatorship, describes its policies, and identifies its supporters. The assessment of policies is notably dispassionate and balanced. Bushnell notes that many participants in the preceding Santander regime of 1819 – 27, including some notable liberals, continued as supporters of and functionaries in the Bolivarian dictatorship.A second important article, probably much less well known, was produced for a conference on economic liberalism in 1990. The essay skillfully and perceptively discusses the process of economic and political liberalization of 1847 – 80, comparing it to the recent neoliberal turn (the topic of the conference). The analysis is up-to-date and, though I have covered this ground myself, I found a number of observations instructive. One surprising, perhaps even puckish, note is his comparison of the obligatory end of religious vows to the abolition of slavery.The third major essay discusses Colombian responses to the Spanish Civil War of 1936 – 39. Once again the exposition is thorough and careful, dispassionate and balanced. The content is too variegated and nuanced to summarize adequately in brief compass. Grosso modo, Bushnell finds that most Conservative public figures clearly supported the Nationalist cause, both because of their allegiance to the Church and their fear of and hostility to communism and the left in general. However, most Conservative spokesmen remained loyal to democratic, constitutional institutions, with the exception of only a few extremists. While they might have corporatist leanings, they were not sympathetic to German or Italian fascism, in part perhaps because of the perceived fascist lack of regard for the Church. Liberals, including the administration of Alfonso López Pumarejo (1934 – 38), tended to support the Republican cause. But Liberals were less uniformly supportive of, and had more reservations about, the Spanish Republicans than was the case of the Conservatives with regard to the Spanish Nationalists.This collection was published primarily to make essays originally issued in English more available to Colombian readers. But it will be equally useful to readers in the Anglophone world. In it Bushnell once again demonstrates both attention to detail and a capacity to discern general patterns, as well as the equilibrium and the careful attention to balancing contrary evidence that have characterized the whole of his long and exemplary career.