Argentine Caudillo: Juan Manuel de Rosas

by John Lynch

Argentine Juan Manuel de Rosas, is John Lynch's new edition of his 1981 book, which is now out of print. The original has been shortened, making it well-suited for classroom use. The figure of Juan Manual de Rosas dominates the history of Argentina in the first half of the nineteenth century. Charles Darwin, who met him on campaign against the Indians, described him as 'a man of extraordinary character,' the lord of vast estates and, for over twenty years, absolute ruler of Buenos Aires and its province. The present book studies the forces which made and sustained Rosas, and examines through him the roots of the caudillo tradition in Argentina. It reconstructs the world of great estates and the rise to power of their proprietors, establishing the relation of patron and client, of master and peon, the basis of political allegiance at that time. Argentine Caudillo follows the career of Rosas as a classical caudillo, who rescued his people from fear and anarchy and delivered them into the hands of a great dictatorship. Leader of the gauchos, yet representative too of the powerful landed proprietors and cattle exporters, Rosas established an early prototype of a totalitarian state and employed systematic terror to defend his rule. The book helps to elucidate the concept and practice of caudillismo, or personal dictatorship, in the Hispanic world, and the use of violence to seize and defend power. It does this against a backdrop of transition from colony to independence, and then from anarchy to absolutism. Argentine Caudillo provides a detailed study of the use of state terror as an instrument of policy, one of the few such studies for any period of Latin American history. There is no book which duplicates this work either inside Argentina or outside. In Argentina, Rosas has become a subject of fierce controversy, partly because of his nationalism, partly because of his reign of terror. Consequently, while there is a vast bibliography on Rosas, much of it is polemical and ephemeral. This is the only scholarly and objective modern history of Rosas. Carefully preserving the identity of its predecessor, the new edition updates the background history and adjusts to recent trends in the study of the Rosas period concerning the estancia and agrarian regime, the political idealogy of Rosas, the family, and community bases of power. Argentine Juan Manuel de Rosas is an excellent resource for students as well as scholars on this powerful figure in Latin America.

Genres: History, Biography

185 pages, Hardcover

First published June 25, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

John Lynch is Emeritus Professor of Latin American History at the University of London. He spent most of his academic career at University College, and then from 1974 to 1987 as Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies. The main focus of his work has been Spanish America in the period 1750–1850. [wikipedia]

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not exactly overly exciting, this work of Argentinean history presents a digestible yet thorough account of Juan Manuel de Rosa's rise and maintenance of power in Buenos Aires. It also offers a clear understanding of concepts vital to Latin American history, such as caudillos and systems of patronage.

[Fabricio Fernandez]

Había leído un libro espectacular de John Lynch llamado "Masacre en las pampas". Encaré esta biografía de Rosas en una época en la que estaba muy metido en el tema de la historia argentina. Iba bien, pero cuando se tienen muchos libros y poco tiempo para leer, sucede que uno se pone quisquilloso. Volvió a su lugar en el estante.

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosas was the leader of Argentina from around 1830 to the early 1850's. He ran the country with an iron fist, which included death squads. This is a basic bio of his life that did not go into great detail as to what made him do what he did on a local, national or international level. During this time there were two main groups, the Federalists and the Unitarianists. Rosas was a Federalist and wanted to keep Argentina a loose federation of states with Buenos Aires as the entire power base and the rest of the country as colonies or weak provinces. By the early 1850's his power eroded and his base left him and he was forced to flee to Great Britain where he spent the remaining 25 years of his life working on his farm. An ok bio, not great and not indepth.

[Jo HomoHomeboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read about an important figure in Argentine history. Although a dry look at his administration of the country it is short and to the point. The two points I love about this book, it wasn't a text book. The book went straight through his life. The only thing I found too short was the coverage of his time in exile.