Product Description

This is the story of the seven extraordinary young men who gave their lives for South America's independence in the early years of the nineteenth century. They were Francisco de Miranda, who narrowly escaped the guillotine in France and impressed both George Washington and Catherine the Great; Simon Bolivar, an aristocrat with innumerable lovers, who led guerrilla armies through the swamps and jungles; the inarticulate San Martin and his comrade Bernardo O'Higgins, the illegitimate son of a Spanish viceroy; Admiral Lord Cochrane, the colourful Scottish nobleman known as the 'Sea Wolf'; Iturbide, cashiered for extortion and subsequently Emperor of Mexico; and Crown Prince Pedro of Portugal, who turned against his father and brought independence to Brazil. Despite their great daring and ultimate success, all seven died amid pathos and tragedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #310316 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Review
'Harvey... has done us all a favour in... re-creating the swashbuckling, idealistic, vicious and sex-crazed heroes and villains of South America's rebellion against Spain in this colourful, swaggering narrative history. It is an exhilarating and wildly enjoyable ride from start to finish.' - Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Sunday Times; "an entertaining and compulsive read" - The Sunday Telegraph; 'This should be prescribed reading...' -John Ure, Times Literary Supplement

News Letter, Northern Ireland, November 2, 2002
'An account which rattles along with the pace of a novel.'

About the Author
Robert Harvey has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, assistant editor of The Economist and an MP. He is the author of many books, including a highly popular biography of Lord Cochrane. He is a former member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, was assistant editor of The Economist, and foreign affairs leader writer for the Daily Telegraph. His books include The Undefeated: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Modern Japan, Portugal: Birth of a Democracy, Liberators and Cochrane. Robert lives in Powys, Wales.

Customer Reviews

Building a New World
This book is widely praised as a sparkling account and has been compared to Hollywood epics and dramatic fictions - in other words, it is a series of rattling good yarns of derring do, an attractively old-fashioned piece of history writing. And so it is, as Simon Bolivar leads his army up yet another mountain pass on his way to victory over an astonished enemy or the betrayed Bernardo O'Higgins fights his way out of Rancagua against impossible odds. All this is told with as much clarity as panache, though I found my lack of knowledge of South American geography (the map are a partial help) sometimes impaired my understanding. The view of the book as the life stories of seven adventurers, however, does Robert Harvey somewhat less than justice. His interweaving of disparate, but over-lapping, stories is masterly and his summaries of the liberators' legacies goes a long way towards making sense of South American history.

History to amaze and entertain.
This book covers the history of the "Liberators"-the revolutionaries who freed Latin America from colonial rule. At times savage, at times enlightened, these men, and the countless women in their lives, changed history. The author tells the stories of their inter-connecting lives at a fast but informative pace, making for an entertaining read, which left me wanting more. I can recommend this book for those who like history to come alive.

Breathless heroics captured with verve and compassion
I found this account of the 7 Liberators of South America to be a fantastic read. The scale of the protagonists exploits is epic, as were their achievements. However, it also documents their downfalls and shortcomings in equal measure. Harvey writes with great energy and pathos, but is as ready to criticise as he is to compliment.
The book follows Miranda, Bolivar, O'Higgins, Lord Cochrane, Iturbide, San Martin and Pedro of Brazil as they toil through tragedy and triumph. Harvey manages to capture them all well and my interest never wavered through this sizeable work.
My only criticism is that the maps could be a bit better and more numerous and it definitely helps to have an understanding of Latin American geography.
Overall a fantastic overview of this dramatic period in Latin American history.