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Tides of Revolution: Information, Insurgencies, and the Crisis of Colonial Rule in Venezuela
Winner of the 2019 Bolton-Johnson Prize from the Conference on Latin American History
This is a book about the links between politics and literacy, and about how radical ideas spread in a world without printing presses. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Spanish colonial governments tried to keep revolution out of their provinces. But, as Cristina Soriano shows, hand-copied samizdat materials from the Caribbean flooded the cities and ports of Venezuela, hundreds of foreigners shared news of the French and Haitian revolutions with locals, and Venezuelans of diverse social backgrounds met to read hard-to-come-by texts and to discuss the ideas they expounded. These networks efficiently spread antimonarchical propaganda and abolitionist and egalitarian ideas, allowing Venezuelans to participate in an incipient yet vibrant public sphere and to contemplate new political scenarios. This book offers an in-depth analysis of one of the crucial processes that allowed Venezuela to become one of the first regions in Spanish America to declare independence from Iberia and turn into an influential force for South American independence.
This is a book about the links between politics and literacy, and about how radical ideas spread in a world without printing presses. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Spanish colonial governments tried to keep revolution out of their provinces. But, as Cristina Soriano shows, hand-copied samizdat materials from the Caribbean flooded the cities and ports of Venezuela, hundreds of foreigners shared news of the French and Haitian revolutions with locals, and Venezuelans of diverse social backgrounds met to read hard-to-come-by texts and to discuss the ideas they expounded. These networks efficiently spread antimonarchical propaganda and abolitionist and egalitarian ideas, allowing Venezuelans to participate in an incipient yet vibrant public sphere and to contemplate new political scenarios. This book offers an in-depth analysis of one of the crucial processes that allowed Venezuela to become one of the first regions in Spanish America to declare independence from Iberia and turn into an influential force for South American independence.
- GenresHistoryWorld History
336 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2018
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January 10, 2022Very interesting perspective. I also really enjoyed the author's writing style.
December 13, 2023
I had to read this book for my Colonial Latin America class. Overall, it was an enjoyable book. I particularly enjoyed the first three chapters covering the distribution of revolutionary thinking through books, newspapers, pamphlets, and word of mouth. I learned much from those chapters and they were well put together. The latter half of the book was still interesting, but not as much compared to the first half. Soriano puts together a nice story of pre-independence Venezuela and how it was influenced by its surroundings and social groups. If you are interested in this subject, I highly recommend it.
August 11, 2022
Beautiful book all around! Thoughtful, carefully researched, intelligent argument. An absolute pleasure to read!
January 9, 2026
Ripped habermas to pieces
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews