- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Verso Books (24 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1859847757
- ISBN-13: 978-1859847756
- Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 14.3 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,510,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #30 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > South America > Venezuela
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More About the Author
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Review
"This book shows its author back on top form as a supreme interpreter of Latin America." - The Independent "A colourful and readable account of Chavez's background and beliefs." - Financial Times "Little is known in detail of Chavez's life, career, and ideas. This study ... begins to fill the gaps." - Multicultural Review "Gott is always and interesting, well-informed, and engaging writer. Washington would be wise to pay attention to this account, since Chavez's radical nationalism ... is presumably raising eyebrows in Foggy Bottom and Langley." - Foreign Affairs "Chavez, as Richard Gott's readable profile makes clear, is no ordinary caudillo." - Time Higher Education Supplement "This timely book will be eagerly devoured by all those who wish to understand Latin America's new radicalism." - New Statesman
Product Description
In a first-hand report from Venezuela, veteran correspondent Richard Gott places the county's controversial president in historical perspective. Examining Chavez's plans and programmes and the support these attract, Gott argues that this unique experiment may prove a new way forward for Latin America.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am in no way a supporter of Chavez. This was after all a man who caused the ceath of several innocent civillians during the 92 coup attempt. he is also a primarily a soldier and again i have serious reservations about the military taking political control. However, Gott's book was a very refreshing change to the middle class paranoia that abounds around this government. Gott is obviously sympathetic to Chavez and believes him to be a man of integrity. I sincerely hope this to be true. unfortunately Gott does not elaborate on the question marks he himself raises. He mentions people who once supported Chavez but then turned against him without providing the reader sufficient information on which to base an opinion. Chavez's agricultural reforms are unquestioned. Chavez has used the newly homeless to populate the interior, I would have liked to have read intitial feedback from these people. It is by seeing the good and the bad of a political figure that one is able to get a relatively fair picture. This book is very subjective which makes me automatically wary. I appreciate the book was only recently published and so could not give any great details about the role of the military during the December disaster. However, having spent Christmas in Venezuela I know there were many criticisms levelled against the army ranging from incompetence, degenerating into taking part in the looting and forming part of the vigilantiism that reigned in Edo Vargas. I would have liked Gott to address these issues in the book. The leader of the DISIP lost his job because of the shooting of looters, did it stop there? Or should Chavez be justifying the actions of the military? I know this may sound contradictory but it was a very readable book and good to hear somebody defending Chavez, who after all if he truly intends to put into practice his policies will have been the only politician in the last thirty years to have made a positive contribution to the lives of the majority of Venezuelans. It made a refreshing change from the whining of the business interests and magazines such as The Economist.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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16 reviews
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful
A sympathetic view of Chávez
4 Sep 2000
Format:Hardcover
Since there is no extended analysis of Chávez in English that I know of, this is the most complete version that can be found of the history of the Chávez phenomenon. The reader should be aware that the author makes little effort to hide his admiration for Hugo Chávez, and accepts without question the Chávez interpretation of Venezuela, which is to say that absolutely nothing good ever happened in Venezuela between the death of Bolívar and the coup attempt led by Chávez. No credit is given at all to any attempts to develop the country in the last 100 years, except perhaps during the Pérez Jiménez dictatorship. Just about all previous leaders were corrupt. The author fails entirely to see the continuities between the Chávez movement and previous political movements, which are many. In short, the book is totally biased. Despite its obvious defects, however, Gott does cover the basic facts of Chávez' origins and his strategy to gain power, so if the reader wants to find out what Chávez is all about, this is a good and even fascinating source. It's fun to read. If the reader wants to understand what Venezuela is all about, it is much less reliable. The book only takes us up to the approval of the new Constitution at the end of 1999 and really only covers the period up until about mid-1999. The author's biases mean that he is unable to see the fractures within the Chávez coalition which would eventually lead to the break with Arias Cárdenas and which will surely mean further fissures in the future. He also assumes that all opponents to Chávez are hopeless reactionaries, which is only about 50% true. Surely someone will write a better book soon, but for now, this book will be useful for anyone who wants to know what has been going on in Venezuela. But let the buyer beware. Gott obviously doesn't care much about democratic processes and seems to think that coups are okay means of bringing about change.
37 of 49 people found the following review helpful
A good help to understand contemporary Venezuela.
31 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
As the author says, few books have been written in English about contemporary Venezuela, and a lot of what is being written in Spanish, for readers abroad, is too biased, incidental and poorly researched to be of any help in order to understand the deep political changes that are taking place in Simón Bolívar's nation. With his book "In the Shadow of the Liberator, Hugo Chávez and the Transformation of Venezuela" Professor Gott contributes to foster an objective and deeper knowledge of the Venezuelan political process led by President Chávez. Gott analyzes Venezuela's recent history;the Carlos Andrés Pérez's Presidency and the "Caracazo" of 1989, the military rebellions of 1992, the Rafael Caldera's government, the fall of the Ancien Régime and the election of Hugo Chávez as President, the formation of the Constituent Assembly and the future of the Bolivarian dream that Chávez endorses, the economy, the Legacy of Bolívar, and the impact of Chávez in Latin America, in a well docummented story enriched with on-site experiences and interviews with leading Venezuelan politicians. Gott also writes about the Reform of the Judiciary, the rights of indigenous peoples, the military and civil society and other changes that Chávez is pushing through his political agenda to conclude, as a majority of Venezuelans do, that President Chávez is an honest man "with the interest of his people at heart" It is an excellent book, not the last word in English - I hope- about a history that is still being written, but a first and rather good approach by an English writing scholar that will undoubtedly help in understanding the present and future of Venezuela.
20 of 28 people found the following review helpful
A good view of Venezuela's politics today
21 Jan 2001
Format:Hardcover
After more than 50 years of extremely corrupt leaders, Venezuelans finally got tired, and elected this former paratroop officer/attempted coup leader as their president. This book portrays the reason for his election, and the way in which he was brought to power quite accurately, if not totally unbiased. However, this book is not just some attempt from Chavez to hire a biographer to change his image (as some readers suggested), but an attempt to show that perhaps president Chavez isn't a spawn of satan, like the opposition claims. Taxing, anti-corruption campaigns, and communicating with the people who elected him (the true average Venezuelan) on TV every Sunday are just a few things that have led him to be called everything from a Fascist (in the pre-election era) to a Communist (in the post-election era). Definitely a good book.
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