The General in His Labyrinth
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage
General Simon Bolivar, “the Liberator” of five South American countries, takes a last melancholy journey down the Magdalena River, revisiting cities along its shores, and reliving the triumphs, passions, and betrayals of his life.  Infinitely charming, prodigiously successful in love, war and politics,  he still dances with such enthusiasm and skill that his witnesses cannot believe he is ill.  Aflame with memories of  the power that he commanded and the dream of continental unity that eluded him, he is a moving exemplar of how much can be won—and lost—in a life.