11 h 20 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How does a nation win independence, then fall under the grip of a strongman?
In Facundo, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento follows Juan Facundo Quiroga, a warlord from Argentina’s interior who rules by fear. Writing from exile in Chile, Sarmiento uses this life to confront a larger question: how do the land, its customs and the divide between city and countryside shape political power?
His argument also takes aim at Juan Manuel de Rosas, who governs Buenos Aires and holds much of Argentina in his grip. Geography, biography and political attack meet on the page. Cattle drivers, trackers and singers share this world with learned men and charging horsemen. Sarmiento calls its central struggle civilization against barbarism.
What you’ll discover
- The power of place Explore Sarmiento’s argument that Argentina’s vast plains shape its people, habits and struggles for power.
- Horsemen of the plains Meet the gauchos through their skills, alongside cattle drivers, trackers and singers of the countryside.
- A warlord’s hold Follow Quiroga’s rise and examine a rule built on fear rather than formal laws.
- One country divided Trace the clash between city and countryside through Sarmiento’s passionate account of Argentina.
- A voice worth questioning Encounter an angry, persuasive writer whose force comes with bias and sometimes unfair judgments.
Who will love it
For readers who love Latin American history, political writing with a strong voice, and explorations of how land and custom shape power.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An exile writes against a tyrant
- The land shapes the people who live on it
- Four gaucho types and their skills
- Two societies live inside one country
- A boy who would not obey becomes a leader
- Rule by fear and the will of one man
- Civil war and the horsemen of the provinces
- Rosas as the heir of Facundo
- How the book has been challenged and has lasted
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Facundo
by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento · 1845
An exile traces a warlord’s rise across Argentina’s pampas to explain how a nation falls under a strongman.
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In short
Facundo is a book about one man and one country. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento wrote it in 1845, while living in exile in Chile.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An exile writes against a tyrant
Sarmiento was born in 1811 in San Juan, a town in western Argentina at the foot of the Andes. His family was poor, but his mother and an uncle pushed him toward learning. He taught himself a great deal, and by early manhood he was a teacher, a journalist and a fierce opponent of the federal strongmen who ruled the provinces. When Rosas rose to power in Buenos Aires, Sarmiento crossed the mountains into Chile more than once to escape arrest.
In Chile he found work as a writer and an educator, and he wrote for the newspaper El Progreso. There he published Facundo in installments in 1845. He had two aims. One was to explain Argentina to the world, especially to Chile and Europe, where Rosas was poorly understood. The other was to damage Rosas by showing him as the heir of an older and cruder type of tyrant.
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What is Facundo by Sarmiento about?
It is a book about the Argentine warlord Facundo Quiroga and the world that produced him. Sarmiento uses his life to explain the land, the gauchos, the civil wars and the rise of the dictator Rosas.
What does civilization and barbarism mean in Facundo?
Civilization means cities, education, law and European habits. Barbarism means the rule of force and personal loyalty that Sarmiento saw on the plains and in the provinces. He believed Argentina's conflicts came from the clash between them.
Who was Facundo Quiroga?
Juan Facundo Quiroga was a provincial caudillo from La Rioja, active in the civil wars after Argentine independence. People called him the Tiger of the Plains. He led irregular cavalry and ruled by personal will and fear.
The author
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
1811–1888 · Argentine statesman and writer
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was an Argentine writer and politician born in San Juan in 1811. He lived in Argentina and spent periods in exile in Chile. He published Facundo in 1845 and served as president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He died in Asunción, Paraguay, in 1888.
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