Viva South America!: A Journey Through a Restless Continent: A Journey in the Steps of Bolivar

Viva South America!: A Journey Through a Restless Continent: A Journey in the Steps of Bolivar

by OliverBalch (Author)

Synopsis

Simon Bolivar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. Viva South America! sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as 'independent' while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals?Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Edition: Main
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 19 Mar 2009

ISBN 10: 0571237037
ISBN 13: 9780571237036
Book Overview: Get swept away in an enlightening journey through the often-disputed, ever-changing and culturally-rich landscapes and histories of South America.

Author Bio
Oliver Balch works as an independent journalist in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he writes regularly for the Guardian. His articles have also appeared in the Financial Times, the Telegraph, the Observer and Fortune magazine. Away from his laptop, he has had jobs as a labourer in Peru, a Bollywood extra in India, a missionary in Bolivia and an English teacher to exiled Tibetan monks. This is his first book.