-
Bolivar
- American Liberator
- Narrated by: David Crommett
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $39.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Che Guevara
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Jon Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Armando Durán
- Length: 36 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Che Guevara was a dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. Jon Lee Anderson traces Che's extraordinary life from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro's government to his failed campaign in the Congo and his assassination in the Bolivian jungle.
-
-
Encompassing and Fair Look at an Historical Man
- By Matt on 08-10-11
By: Jon Lee Anderson
-
Washington
- A Life
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
-
-
FANTASTIC!!
- By Roy on 03-15-11
By: Ron Chernow
-
Napoleon
- A Life
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 32 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Roberts' Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine.
-
-
What a dynamo!
- By Tad Davis on 01-16-15
By: Andrew Roberts
-
American Ulysses
- A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- By: Ronald C. White
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the New York Times bestseller A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on seven years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.
-
-
An Absolutely Superb Work
- By Michael J. Nardotti, Jr. on 11-05-16
By: Ronald C. White
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
-
Must read/listen
- By Peter Schleider on 09-26-17
By: William Taubman
-
A Country of Vast Designs
- James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 18 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.
-
-
History Repeats
- By Todd Gangl Usnik on 06-12-12
By: Robert W. Merry
-
Che Guevara
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Jon Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Armando Durán
- Length: 36 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Che Guevara was a dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. Jon Lee Anderson traces Che's extraordinary life from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro's government to his failed campaign in the Congo and his assassination in the Bolivian jungle.
-
-
Encompassing and Fair Look at an Historical Man
- By Matt on 08-10-11
By: Jon Lee Anderson
-
Washington
- A Life
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
-
-
FANTASTIC!!
- By Roy on 03-15-11
By: Ron Chernow
-
Napoleon
- A Life
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 32 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Roberts' Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine.
-
-
What a dynamo!
- By Tad Davis on 01-16-15
By: Andrew Roberts
-
American Ulysses
- A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- By: Ronald C. White
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the New York Times bestseller A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on seven years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.
-
-
An Absolutely Superb Work
- By Michael J. Nardotti, Jr. on 11-05-16
By: Ronald C. White
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
-
Must read/listen
- By Peter Schleider on 09-26-17
By: William Taubman
-
A Country of Vast Designs
- James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 18 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.
-
-
History Repeats
- By Todd Gangl Usnik on 06-12-12
By: Robert W. Merry
-
The Story of Philosophy
- The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.
-
-
AN ALL TIME FAVORITE
- By Jeff on 04-14-12
By: Will Durant
-
The Borgias
- The Hidden History
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The Tudors and A World Undone. Sweeping aside the gossip, slander, and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu.
-
-
Marvelous !
- By Cinders on 08-02-13
By: G. J. Meyer
-
Crusaders
- The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
-
-
Gripping but not tidy
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-20
By: Dan Jones
-
The Passage of Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career - 1958 to 1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him. Yet it was, as well, the time in which the presidency, the goal he had always pursued, would be thrust upon him in the moment it took an assassin’s bullet to reach its mark.
-
-
From Powerful to Powerless
- By Abdur Abdul-Malik on 05-08-12
By: Robert A. Caro
-
Civilization
- The West and the Rest
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Niall Ferguson
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise to global predominance of Western civilization is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five hundred years. All over the world, an astonishing proportion of people now work for Western-style companies, study at Western-style universities, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and even work Western hours. Yet six hundred years ago the petty kingdoms of Western Europe seemed unlikely to achieve much more than perpetual internecine warfare. It was Ming China or Ottoman Turkey that had the look of world civilizations.
-
-
Thoughtful analysis of the ascendancy of the West.
- By Patrick on 05-25-13
By: Niall Ferguson
-
The Warburgs
- The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 35 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, German American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.
-
-
The Warburg's Dynamic Family History
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Ron Chernow
-
Children of Ash and Elm
- A History of the Vikings
- By: Neil Price
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Than on 10-06-20
By: Neil Price
-
The Quest
- Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
- By: Daniel Yergin
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A master storyteller as well as a leading energy expert, Daniel Yergin continues the riveting story begun in his Pulitzer Prize–winning book, The Prize. In The Quest, Yergin shows us how energy is an engine of global political and economic change and conflict, in a story that spans the energies on which our civilization has been built and the new energies that are competing to replace them. The Quest tells the inside stories, tackles the tough questions, and reveals surprising insights about coal, electricity, and natural gas.
-
-
Best nonfiction book of 2011
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
By: Daniel Yergin
-
Edward III
- The Perfect King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.
-
-
Great book about Edward III
- By 1CheekyLass on 07-05-16
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
Crucible of War
- The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766
- By: Fred Anderson
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 29 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years' War - long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution - takes on a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as it developed, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces brought into conflict helped both to create Britain's empire and to sow the seeds of its eventual dissolution. Beginning with a skirmish in the Pennsylvania backcountry involving an inexperienced George Washington, the Iroquois chief Tanaghrisson, and the ill-fated French emissary Jumonville, Anderson reveals a chain of events that would lead to world conflagration.
-
-
A Detailed History
- By Daniel on 07-15-18
By: Fred Anderson
-
Empire of the Summer Moon
- Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son, Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
-
-
Pride and shame
- By Josiah D. Blaisdell on 08-30-19
By: S. C. Gwynne
Publisher's Summary
It is astonishing that Simón Bolívar, the great Liberator of South America, is not better known in the United States. He freed six countries from Spanish rule, traveled more than 75,000 miles on horseback to do so, and became the greatest figure in Latin American history. His life is epic, heroic, straight out of Hollywood: he fought battle after battle in punishing terrain, forged uncertain coalitions of competing forces and races, lost his beautiful wife soon after they married and never remarried (although he did have a succession of mistresses, including one who held up the revolution and another who saved his life), and he died relatively young, uncertain whether his achievements would endure.
Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, novelist and journalist Marie Arana brilliantly captures early 19th-century South America and the explosive tensions that helped revolutionize Bolívar. In 1813 he launched a campaign for the independence of Colombia and Venezuela, commencing a dazzling career that would take him across the rugged terrain of South America, from Amazon jungles to the Andes mountains. From his battlefield victories to his ill-fated marriage and legendary love affairs, Bolívar emerges as a man of many facets: fearless general, brilliant strategist, consummate diplomat, passionate abolitionist, gifted writer, and flawed politician.
A major work of history, Bolívar colorfully portrays a dramatic life even as it explains the rivalries and complications that bedeviled Bolívar’s tragic last days. It is also a stirring declaration of what it means to be a South American.
More from the same
What listeners say about Bolivar
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joselo
- 08-02-13
There will be blood.
Any additional comments?
I was completely absorbed by this audiobook! As a Venezuelan, I superficially studied Bolívar's life and the War of Independence in school, but the version I learned was very politically correct. This book shows both the strengths and weaknesses of The Liberator, and that made the experience all the more enlightening. I wish this had been available when I was a teenager! Personally, I wasn't aware of how brutal all participating sides had been during the conflict! Yikes! In that sense, this was an eye opener. Yes, there was courage and sacrifice, but also a surreal amount of violence and bloodshed. I was shocked and saddened by this perspective. The book includes a lot of detail without ever being even slightly tedious. No matter where you're from, chances are you'll be similarly fascinated with the history. There's much to learn from it and it would easily make an epic blockbuster movie.
The narrator did a great job, only he constantly mispronounces the name of the city of Coro: the accent is on the first syllable, not the second! This is irritating as the city plays a recurrent role in the life of Bolívar and its name is repeated hundreds of times. Crommett's awful pronunciation of French words (mainly names and cities) is also a bit annoying, but there's a very limited number of these. What's most important is that he reads at a very nice pace (not too slowly or too quickly) and both his English and Spanish are very clear.
63 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cody Micah Carmichael
- 07-23-15
This is a must listen-to.
Everything about this story is glorious. Bolivar is a man who should be honored and taught alongside Washington or Alexander the Great in schools. His story is one deserving of legend, and by the end, had me nearly in tears. The narrator does a fantastic job, and the author paints potraits with her words as one would with the finest oils to showcase this figure of history. If you listen to no other book this year, listen to this one.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- WSV1975
- 10-23-14
EXCELLENT BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY!
What made the experience of listening to Bolivar the most enjoyable?
I am a student of Latin American history, and I have never read a better history of Bolivar, the man, his times and the events of the 20 year struggle for independence from Spain and trying to bring democratic order out of the chaos that resulted from the defeat of Spanish forces.
What other book might you compare Bolivar to and why?
Samuel E Morison's "Admiral of the Ocean Seas" about the life of Columbus is the very best biography I have ever read, and it won a Pulitzer. This history and biography of Bolivar was almost on par with that great biography. The author lets us understand the times, the life, the events, and the results of Bolivar's astonishing efforts. Great read, great book.
Have you listened to any of David Crommett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This was a great listen. Easy to listen to and to understand. it is a great story well told.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
The amazing life of Bolivar.
Any additional comments?
Recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand modern day Latin America. No one can understand the current conditions of Latin America without understanding its history, Bolivar was a big piece of the history of the land and its people.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rhea
- 03-04-14
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!!!
As good as a history read can be. Due to a life lived as well as person could. I would give 10 stars if I could, for it is not every day that an audio book brings tears to my eyes.
Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!! Viva Bolivar!!!!!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jean
- 07-19-13
Absolutely fantastic book!
Marie Arana wrote a great biography of Bolivar, she covered not only the positive but the negative aspects of the man. Arana's prose is often beautiful, it is apparently from the writing she is a novelist turned biographer. The story almost reads as a historical novel, she keeps your attention to every word. Arana brings the story to life, the reader feels as if one is there and part of the action. Bolivar was a 19th Century leader, born in Venezuela.
He was born into a wealthy family and received education both in his home country but also in Spain and France. What he accomplished is mind boggling! The military action lasted twice as long as the U.S. revolution and territory cover was 7 times larger. He led both a revolution and a civil war. Bolivar evicted Spain from a million square miles of territory in an eleven year campaign. Battles fought against a trained Spanish army of superior numbers. His army had to go on superhuman marches though rain swollen jungles and over snow-capped Andes Mountains to fight the battles often with only a few days rest. He freed the area now called Venezuela, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The book explains why Bolivar thought the U.S. type of democracy would not work in South America with it mixed races of creole, indigenous Indians, black slaves, Spanish and other Europeans. Arana explains Bolivar belief, the three hundred years of tyranny by Spain and how, Spain deliberately kept the people un-educated and pitted against each other, were not ready to govern themselves. He thought that at a later date, a British type of government was better, but he made the mistake of setting up the area for rule by dictators . Arana explains how he ended up dying poor and hated by the people but later brought back to hero status. David Crommett did a good job narrating the story and all the Spanish names. If you are interested in history and would like to learn more about our neighbors to the south you will enjoy this book.
21 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- joe
- 04-13-16
Superbly written and narrated
Beautifully written biography of Simon Bolivar was easy to listen to as an audiobook. The story follows in chronological order events in hes life and very descriptive of major battles fought.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- rosswgray
- 01-09-16
Outstanding
All the praise for this book given in the reviews above is well-placed. This is an outstanding work of history, told by Arana with drama, passion, and a keen moral sense. Crommett's narration is superb--his Spanish is near flawless, and he blends the Latin American pronunciations into the stream of his English deftly.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian
- 06-14-15
The greatest man South America has ever seen
My South American blood compelled me to pick up this book, little did I know what I was getting.
The immortal hero and the fallible human being is presented in this well researched book that leaves nothing behind and presents it in a beautiful narrative.
outstanding book about a great man
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Zephyr
- 02-16-16
Biased toward Bolivar
Writer strikes me as a Bolivar apologist, not a good thing for a history author.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Buretto
- 09-18-17
One of the Legends of the Hemisphere
What did you like best about Bolivar? What did you like least?
Very interesting history of a supremely important figure in history, unfortunately not that well known in the USA. The book gives a fairly comprehensive account of the qualities that made the man who he was, good and bad. The melancholy of losing his young wife, which led him to a life as a liberator (a bit overly romanticized, but it works nonetheless). And the ruthless calculation of a crafted, disingenuous modesty which he repeatedly relies upon to consolidate power. Overall, Bolivar is presented as a tremendously complex, intriguing character.
My only pet peeve about the book was the use of the word American. Being in the title, the reader/listener knows what to expect. And certainly, contemporaneous use of the word by Bolivar and others, to refer the regions outside the USA is historically accurate. But when the author freely uses America, Spanish America, Latin America, South America, and in fact, Venezuela, almost interchangeably, as well as using America and American in specific United States contexts, one starts to wonder about the author's intent. It's not that it's ever confusing, just unnecessary.
Would you be willing to try another book from Marie Arana? Why or why not?
Yes, I believe so. A few minor stylistic points aside, it seemed a story well-researched and well-told.
What does David Crommett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
It's a good reading. I have no particular insight to accents or pronunciations, but he certainly didn't detract.
Did Bolivar inspire you to do anything?
Reminded me to reread Gabriel Garcia Marquez, not only The General in His Labyrinth, but everything.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- r
- 01-14-16
The truth RDH
Very powerful book about this man who freed South America from Spain and leaving a very big lump within my throat and leaving me tearful. Also a very good history lesson about South America up to this visit present day.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Knowledge thru Books.
- 07-19-19
Epic
What a insightful , deep , evocative book. Bolivar was a great man with many flaws.. Maria Arana captures Bolivar life in meaningful and succinct way
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 07-03-21
Beautifully narrated
It is refreshing on Audible to have a native speaker reading a book in which so much Spanish is used, in the form of names, places and words.
But the book is far too detailed, includes hundreds of names of people that one cannot keep track of, and it becomes very tedious. It is, in my opinion, a book for specialists. I had to give up a third of the way through.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Fortress of Soulitude
- 09-26-19
Easy to Follow
Bolivar Is easy to follow. The Netflix series is a little more romantic or idealistic. Not this book. References to other world event help to give clear picture of how things were then in history and how everything was tied together. I found that fascinating.
There are many historical lessons in here and excellent quotes on education and ignorance. How lack of education is used to controlled exploit a group of people. The cruelty disguised as religion/righteousness. Slavery/Abolition. Racism. Corruption. Greed. Power hunger. Its all here.
Narrator does excellent job.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Shane
- 05-29-16
Good but Superficial
This book gave a pretty good overview of not only Simon Bolivar's life but the period he lived in. It was well written and there wasn't any overt ideological bias that makes some biographies unreadable. The only thing the book lacked was a really critical analysis of the decisions that he made.