"facundo" was first translated in 1868, by mary mann, with the title "life in the argentine republic in the days of the tyrants; or, civilization and barbarism". more recently, kathleen ross has undertaken a modern and complete translation, published in 2003 by the university of california press. in ross's "translator's introduction," she notes that mann's 19th-century version of the text was influenced by mann's friendship with sarmiento and by the fact that he was at the time a candidate in the argentine presidential election: "mann wished to further her friend's cause abroad by presenting sarmiento as an admirer and emulator of united states political and cultural institutions". hence this translation cut much of what made sarmiento's work distinctively part of the hispanic tradition. ross continues: "mann's elimination of metaphor, the stylistic device perhaps most characteristic of sarmiento's prose, is especially striking".