An epicintellectual history of Latin America by one of the region's most prominentthinkersInhis first book to appear in English since Mexico: Biography in Power, awork which the Wall Street Journal calls "the standard history ofpostcolonial Mexico," prize-winning author Enrique Krauzeilluminates the evolution of political, social, and philosophical discourses inLatin America.
Author(s): Enrique Krauze
560 Pages
Biography + Autobiography, Historical
Description
About the Book
An epicintellectual history of Latin America by one of the region s most prominentthinkers
Inhis first book to appear in English since Mexico: Biography in Power, awork which the Wall Street Journal calls the standard history ofpostcolonial Mexico, prize-winning author Enrique Krauzeilluminates the evolution of political, social, and philosophical discourses inLatin America. With echoes of Richard Hofstadter and Edmund Wilson, Krauze explores the Latin American intellectual traditionby deftly animating its decisive figures, from Octavio Paz to Che Guevara, Jose Vasconcelos toHugo Chavez, and inscribing them upon a vivid landscape of patriotism, opportunism, morality, and avarice and of love, honor, loyalty, and identity. Redeemersdelivers an unparalleled explication of the roots of ideology and action inLatin America today."
Book Synopsis
An epicintellectual history of Latin America by one of the region's most prominentthinkers
Inhis first book to appear in English since Mexico: Biography in Power, awork which the Wall Street Journal calls "the standard history ofpostcolonial Mexico," prize-winning author Enrique Krauzeilluminates the evolution of political, social, and philosophical discourses inLatin America. With echoes of Richard Hofstadter and Edmund Wilson, Krauze explores the Latin American intellectual traditionby deftly animating its decisive figures, from Octavio Paz to Che Guevara, José Vasconcelos toHugo Chávez, and inscribing them upon a vivid landscape of patriotism, opportunism, morality, and avarice--and of love, honor, loyalty, and identity. Redeemersdelivers an unparalleled explication of the roots of ideology and action inLatin America today.
This groundbreaking work, inspired by Isaiah Berlin and Edmund Wilson, unpacks the human stories behind a century of political turmoil:
Redemption vs. Democracy: Krauze frames the central dilemma of modern Latin America, examining the tension between the search for a messianic savior and the difficult path toward a stable democratic state.
The Cult of the Caudillo: From the cultural crusade of José Vasconcelos to the postmodern television presence of Hugo Chávez, explore how the idea of the "Great Man" has shaped the region's political destiny.
Revolutionary Icons: Delve into the lives of secular saints like Eva Perón, "The Madonna of the Shirtless Ones," and the enraged idealist Che Guevara, whose images continue to inspire and divide the continent.
Politics and the Novel: Uncover the divergent political paths of two literary giants, Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, and how their worldviews were shaped by the shadow of dictatorship.
From the Back Cover
In Redeemers, acclaimed historian Enrique Krauze presents the major ideas that have formed the modern Latin American political mind during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries--and looks closely at how these ideas were expressed in the lives of influential revolutionaries, thinkers, poets, and novelists. Here are the Cuban José Martí; the Argentines Che Guevara and Evita Perón; political thinkers like Mexico's José Vasconcelos; and the writers José Enrique Rodó, Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, and Gabriel García Márquez. Redeemers also highlights Mexico's Samuel Ruiz and Subcomandante Marcos, as well as Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez, and their influence on contemporary Latin America.
In his brilliant, deeply researched history, Enrique Krauze uses the range of these extraordinary lives to illuminate the struggle that has defined Latin American history: an ever-precarious balance between the ideal of democracy and the temptation of political messianism.
Review Quotes
"An engaging mixture of biography and historical currents in the style of Isaiah Berlin or Edmund Wilson, thus allowing lay readers to follow what can sometimes be a dizzying succession of revolutions, doctrine and caudillos." - Kirkus Reviews
Historian Krauze illuminates Latin American thought and politics in a vibrant and invaluable blend of biography and analysis. . . . He is equally fluent in complex political thought and the complexities of creative, bold, and controversial lives. . . . Krauze's clarifying and engaging group portrait provides discerning and much-needed insight into our dynamic neighbors." - Booklist
"Krauze illuminates Latin American thought and politics in a vibrant and invaluable blend of biography and analysis. . . . Redeemers provides discerning and much-needed insight into our dynamic neighbors." - Booklist
"Highly readable. . . . An important book." - The Tuscon Citizen
"Krauze attempts to weave together the disparate threads of all the feuding orthodoxies through mini-biographies of 12 leaders and thinkers. Krauze, perhaps Mexico's most widely respected intellectual, is uniquely suited to the task, and the resulting tapestry is both persuasive and evocative." - Publishers Weekly
"Krauze is, without a doubt, one of the most renowned and important intellectuals in Mexico. . . . "Krauze [is a] survivor, a living witness to an era in which intellectuals tried to be men of ideas as well as men of action. Redeemers is a lucid and moving homage-a swan song-to that tradition by one of its last protagonists. . . . He has a first-rate instinct for storytelling that grabs the reader from the very first page. . . . He has developed a prose style of expressive clarity and metaphoric restraint that has enormous impact. His books read like novels: the greatest possible achievement for a historian of ideas. . . . Few writers have his ability to synthesize and interpret the life and opinions of a person in a few pages." - The Nation
"Krauze is, without a doubt, one of the most renowned and important intellectuals in Mexico. . . . He has developed a prose style of expressive clarity and metaphoric restraint that has enormous impact. His books read like novels: the greatest possible achievement for a historian of ideas." - The Nation
"Redeemers is a fundamental work for our time. . . . All the chapters are written with fluid movement, intelligent precision, and felicitous language. You read them with the expectation and excitement offered by the best novels." - Mario Vargas Llosa, El País
"An ambitious attempt to trace the interaction of ideas and power in Hispanic America." - The Wall Street Journal
"Erudite and wise. . . . A magisterial history of the ideas, books and politics that shaped modern Latin America, from 19th-century liberalism to revolutionary commitments and back again towards modern, more democratic versions of liberal thought." - The Financial Times
"Krauze is marked by a rare and attractive gift for noticing the several ways that, under the bright sun of the imagination, and kingdom of politics and the kingdom of literature sometimes merge." - Paul Berman, The New York Times Book Review
"This collection of erudite biographical essays is held together by the singular worldview of its author, one of the leading members of Mexico's literati. Krauze's long, loving ode to his mentor and friend the Nobel Prize-winning writer Octavio Paz could stand on its own as a major contribution to the literature on Paz and twentieth-century Mexico." - Foreign Affairs
"An engaging survey of the ideas and quasi-religious convictions that have powered modern Latin America's consequential political movements." - The Daily
Dimensions (Overall): 7.9 Inches (H) x 5.3 Inches (W) x 1.1 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.0 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 560
Genre: Biography + Autobiography
Sub-Genre: Historical
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Format: Paperback
Author: Enrique Krauze
Language: English
Street Date: July 24, 2012
TCIN: 84953009
UPC: 9780060938444
Item Number (DPCI): 247-36-1772
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
If the item details aren’t accurate or complete, we want to know about it.
Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 1.1 inches length x 5.3 inches width x 7.9 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1 pounds
We regret that this item cannot be shipped to PO Boxes.
This item cannot be shipped to the following locations: American Samoa (see also separate entry under AS), Guam (see also separate entry under GU), Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico (see also separate entry under PR), United States Minor Outlying Islands, Virgin Islands, U.S., APO/FPO, Alaska, Hawaii
Return details
This item can be returned to any Target store or Target.com.
This item must be returned within 90 days of the date it was purchased in store, delivered to the guest, delivered by a Shipt shopper, or picked up by the guest.