What do you think?
Rate this book
Paths of Revolution: Selected Essays
First English-language anthology of one of Latin America’s pre-eminent Marxist writers
The Argentine-born writer Adolfo Gilly has directly observed many of Latin America’s most dramatic events, from the Bolivian Revolution of the 1950s and Cuba during the Missile Crisis to the guerrilla wars of Central America and Mexico’s Zapatista uprising. Paths of Revolution presents the first representative selection from across his extensive body of work, collecting close-quarters reportage, sharp political analyses and reflections on art and letters.
A living link between the New Left of the 1960s and the Pink Tide of recent decades, Gilly once described the twentieth century as a series of lightning flashes which can illuminate our present-day predicament. The essay form is where he fully comes into his own, covering a truly impressive range of topics and places. This collection draws out the continuities within one of the world’s more vibrant and politically successful left traditions.
In the introduction, Tony Wood (author of Russia Without Putin) offer an overall portrait of Gilly’s life and work.
The Argentine-born writer Adolfo Gilly has directly observed many of Latin America’s most dramatic events, from the Bolivian Revolution of the 1950s and Cuba during the Missile Crisis to the guerrilla wars of Central America and Mexico’s Zapatista uprising. Paths of Revolution presents the first representative selection from across his extensive body of work, collecting close-quarters reportage, sharp political analyses and reflections on art and letters.
A living link between the New Left of the 1960s and the Pink Tide of recent decades, Gilly once described the twentieth century as a series of lightning flashes which can illuminate our present-day predicament. The essay form is where he fully comes into his own, covering a truly impressive range of topics and places. This collection draws out the continuities within one of the world’s more vibrant and politically successful left traditions.
In the introduction, Tony Wood (author of Russia Without Putin) offer an overall portrait of Gilly’s life and work.
288 pages, Paperback
Published October 18, 2022
2 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Adolfo Gilly
50 books9 followersAdolfo Atilio Gilly Malvagni was an Argentine-born Mexican historian and author of various books on the history of and politics of Mexico and Latin America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 12, 2022
A collection of essays by one of South America's premier Marxist, journalist and revolutionary Adolfo Gilly. Translated for the first time in English this recent release has a large selection of work collected from his career spanning from the Cuban Revolution to the Pink Tide. Gillys perspective is rare and needed as we enter another wave of leftist success across Latin America and corresponding capitalist backlash. The highlights of this book are of course the anecdotes and interviews which get up close and personal with Latin America's socialist mythos.
A day with Allende, him walking the streets of Cuba during the October crisis, spending time with Guatemalan guerrillas after the fall of Arbenz and his first hand account of the Bolivian protest movements in the early 2000s are the easily the best parts here and I will remember for some time. The latter half of the book is filled with theoretical analysis with all its fourth international flare. I loved reading his thoughts on capital R Revolution as he is someone who has lived through multiple 1848s one could say. It is incredible the breadth of scholars he weaves together to make sense of capitalism and socialism in South America. Benjamin, Lenin, Borges and Commandante Marcos are all heavily present.
My only complaint with this unique collection are the journalism portions and the theoretical parts should really be in two different volumes. Reading about Gillys thoughts on Morales and Castro really made me want to read his perspective on figures like Chavez and Lula. Anyway this book was fantastic. I hope to see verso put out another translated work of this highly underated figure.
A day with Allende, him walking the streets of Cuba during the October crisis, spending time with Guatemalan guerrillas after the fall of Arbenz and his first hand account of the Bolivian protest movements in the early 2000s are the easily the best parts here and I will remember for some time. The latter half of the book is filled with theoretical analysis with all its fourth international flare. I loved reading his thoughts on capital R Revolution as he is someone who has lived through multiple 1848s one could say. It is incredible the breadth of scholars he weaves together to make sense of capitalism and socialism in South America. Benjamin, Lenin, Borges and Commandante Marcos are all heavily present.
My only complaint with this unique collection are the journalism portions and the theoretical parts should really be in two different volumes. Reading about Gillys thoughts on Morales and Castro really made me want to read his perspective on figures like Chavez and Lula. Anyway this book was fantastic. I hope to see verso put out another translated work of this highly underated figure.
August 22, 2024
It's an understatement to say Gilly led an interesting life. He was a dedicated socialist; an ardent Trotskyist and militant of the Fourth International; a field reporter in revolutionary hotspots throughout the 1950s 60s such as Bolivia, Cuba, Guatemala and later in Mexico's Chiapas; a political prisoner for six years and tortured by the Mexican state, a jail term in which he also wrote one of the most acclaimed books on The Mexican Revolution; and finally an internationally renowned scholar and professor.
This book contains a collection of articles and essays written throughout his long career, many of which remain as fresh and relevant as the day he wrote them.
This book contains a collection of articles and essays written throughout his long career, many of which remain as fresh and relevant as the day he wrote them.
March 8, 2025
Very illuminating series of essays. I needed to fill some gaps on my knowledge of socialism/Communism in Latin America and their various uprisings; this was a good introductory window into that. Plenty of works referenced in here that just make me want to seek out even more.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews