What do you think?
Rate this book
Árbenz, una biografía
¿Quién fue realmente Jacobo Árbenz? Más allá de consideraciones políticas o ideoló ¿cómo fue como persona? ¿cómo fue su vida? Carlos Sabino nos ofrece una magistral biografía de este hombre, una «figura trágica de la historia latinoamericana», como dice el Premio Nobel de Literatura Mario Vargas Llosa, a quien le gustó la obra por «la vivacidad con que relata su infancia y juventud, su paso por la escuela militar, su noviazgo con Maruca, escrito con mucha agilidad, y me gustó todavía más la descripción de su exilio, esa vida sonámbula, rotando entre países socialistas y capitalistas, en los que nunca se adaptó y estuvo siempre hosco, deprimido, alcoholizado y perseguido. Aparece como lo que yo creo realmente una figura destruida por su fracaso y sus derrotas políticas, hundido en la depresión…» El gran novelista, felicita a Sabino también «por la delicadeza con que has tratado en tu biografía el asunto de los amoríos que parece haber tenido la señora de Árbenz. Era un tema que no se podía ocultar, pero había que tratarlo con la elegancia y prudencia con que lo has hecho.» El libro, sin duda, resulta imprescindible para entender el pasado –y el presente– de nuestra América.
Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2019
4 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 1, 2020
Arbenz
Interesante para chapines, especialmente para los de nuevas generaciones que tratan o traten de entender el Génesis de nuestra Guatemala de hoy
Interesante para chapines, especialmente para los de nuevas generaciones que tratan o traten de entender el Génesis de nuestra Guatemala de hoy
July 22, 2025
TLDR: THE AUTHOR HAS AN OBVIOUS NEO-LIBERAL AGENDA. DOES APOLOGEA FOR IMPERIALISTIC ACTIONS THAT TOOK PLACE IN GUATEMALA CITING VERY QUESTIONABLE SOURCES TO DO SO. HE IS NOT IMPARTIAL AT ALL.
Carlos Sabino is a classical liberal historian who also happens to be a professor at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala. One of the only classical liberal, obviously right wing, educational institutions of Latin America. Although there are major parts of the book that are well researched and backed by solid sources there is a lot of problematic apologea of the United Fruit Company.
In page 194 it claims that there was no economic reason for the Guatemalan government to nationalize the United Fruit Company's lands, as it apparently held high paying jobs for Guatemalan peasants, offered homes, provisions, schools, and health centers. That sounds chipper until you check the source: For the Record: The United Fruit Company's Sixty-Six Years in Guatemala. A justification of what the United Fruit Company was doing in Guatemala. A very shaky source to counter the historical knowledge that the United Fruit Company was definelty exploiting and holding a monopoly of not only all telecommunications and railways, but also all the best arable land of Guatemala. Why is he defending such undefenable actions with at best unreliable sources? Whos to say, but it may not be a coincidence he works at UFM.
I would advise the readers to skip this book and to read BITTER FRUIT. Do not pay any money to read this book. The author is a bit of a self-important douche. Download the book in some other website before paying this clown.
Carlos Sabino is a classical liberal historian who also happens to be a professor at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala. One of the only classical liberal, obviously right wing, educational institutions of Latin America. Although there are major parts of the book that are well researched and backed by solid sources there is a lot of problematic apologea of the United Fruit Company.
In page 194 it claims that there was no economic reason for the Guatemalan government to nationalize the United Fruit Company's lands, as it apparently held high paying jobs for Guatemalan peasants, offered homes, provisions, schools, and health centers. That sounds chipper until you check the source: For the Record: The United Fruit Company's Sixty-Six Years in Guatemala. A justification of what the United Fruit Company was doing in Guatemala. A very shaky source to counter the historical knowledge that the United Fruit Company was definelty exploiting and holding a monopoly of not only all telecommunications and railways, but also all the best arable land of Guatemala. Why is he defending such undefenable actions with at best unreliable sources? Whos to say, but it may not be a coincidence he works at UFM.
I would advise the readers to skip this book and to read BITTER FRUIT. Do not pay any money to read this book. The author is a bit of a self-important douche. Download the book in some other website before paying this clown.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews