Biography of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, or The Independence of South America

Campano, LorenzoProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1

Word count: 157K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Biografia del libertador Simon Bolívar, ó La independencia de la América del sudAuthor: Campano, Lorenzo,Language: Spanish, Class: F2201: Latin America local history: South America. General, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

This Spanish-language biography centers on Bolívar and the South American wars of independence, a text at the intersection of Latin American local history and biography. Its value lies not in literary style but in the nineteenth-century narrative framework through which it presents the independence movement: readers can see how an early biographer organized material on war, politics, and character, and observe how the image of the "Liberator" took shape in historical writing. As a public-domain e-book, it is better suited to reading as a historical source or as practice material in Spanish historical prose than as a modern scholarly biography. Readers should note the author's choices of cause and effect, tone in judging figures, and period biases. It will be most useful to readers with a basic interest in Latin American independence history and some Spanish reading ability, especially when read alongside other sources.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a basic acquaintance with South American independence movements who want to encounter an early biographical text
Students with intermediate or better Spanish reading ability who wish to practice historical Spanish
Readers of history and literature interested in the early construction of Bolívar's image and nineteenth-century biographical writing
Teachers and researchers seeking primary or near-primary narrative materials for courses on Latin American history

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern scholarly annotation and up-to-date research overviews
Beginners not yet proficient in Spanish who may struggle with historical proper names and long sentences
General leisure readers looking only for an easy story or novelistic hero narrative

Reading tips

Begin with a brief chronology of Bolívar and the South American independence movement before entering the text, to reduce confusion over names and battles.
Keep paper or a digital notebook handy and mark the author's explanations of cause and effect for key events, so you can later review the narrative stance.
Read alongside relevant chapters of a modern general history, noting differences in source selection and evaluative tone.
If Spanish reading is difficult, first skim chapter titles and topic sentences to grasp the structure, then read key passages closely.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a biography of Bolívar written by a modern scholar?

No. It is an earlier Spanish-language biographical text by Campano, Lorenzo, in the public domain. It can serve as material for understanding how early biographies narrated Bolívar and South American independence, but it should not be treated as a modern scholarly biography; note its period perspective and limited sources.

Can someone with average Spanish read this book?

You can try, but some foundation is needed. The text contains many historical proper names, place names, and political-military narration, with long sentences. Establish background with a chronology and maps first, then read chapter by chapter; if vocabulary is limited, use a Spanish dictionary and prioritize overall meaning rather than word-by-word deciphering.

Is this book suitable for research on Latin American history?

It is suitable as supplementary material, not as a core research basis. It helps readers observe how a nineteenth-century biographer organized the narrative of South American independence and evaluated Bolívar, but it lacks modern scholarly annotation and critical source criticism. For research, compare it with modern general histories and specialized studies, and note its period biases.

What should readers pay most attention to?

The author's narrative stance and selection of sources. Early biographies often carry strong praise or blame, and may oversimplify causes and effects. Mark the author's evaluations of key figures and battles and compare them with modern scholarship; this will best bring out the text's value as a historical source.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Campano, Lorenzo Author · Italian · 1428–1494

Lorenzo Campano (1428–1494) was an Italian Renaissance humanist and bishop, known for his Latin orations and works on rhetoric. Public information about his life is limited, and the details of his early education and career are difficult to verify, but it is confirmed that he was active in the humanist scholarly circles of fifteenth-century Italy and held the office of bishop. One work by him is held in the collection, namely Biografia del libertador Simon Bolívar, ó La independencia de la América del sud (Biography of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, or the Independence of South America), a biography recounting Bolívar's leadership of the South American independence movement. As a humanist, Campano's writing attends to rhetorical craft and oratorical effect, a style also evident in his narrative works.