General Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) was called El Libertador and the 'George Washington' of Latin America. This is a collection of Bolivar's speeches and essays that constitute some of the most eloquent writing not only of the independence period but also of any period in Latin American history. He analyses the region's fundamental problems, ideas on political organization, and proposals for Latin American integration. This edition is edited with an introduction and chronology of Bolívar's life by David Bushnell and translated by Frederick H. Fornoff.

Colombia's status as the fourth largest nation in Latin America and third most populousOCoas well as its largest exporter of such disparate commodities as emeralds, books, processed cocaine, and cut flowersOComakes this, the first history of Colombia written in English, a much-needed book. It tells the remarkable story of a country that has consistently defied modern Latin American stereotypesOCoa country where military dictators are virtually unknown, where the political left is congenitally weak, and where urbanization and industrialization have spawned no lasting populist movement.There is more to Colombia than the drug trafficking and violence that have recently gripped the world's attention. In the face of both cocaine wars and guerrilla conflict, the country has maintained steady economic growth as well as a relatively open and democratic government based on a two-party system. It has also produced an impressive body of art and literature.David Bushnell traces the process of state-building in Colombia from the struggle for independence, territorial consolidation, and reform in the nineteenth century to economic development and social and political democratization in the twentieth. He also sheds light on the modern history of Latin America as a whole."