Jefferson And Bolivar

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31262, 7 January 1967, Page 4

Jefferson And Bolivar

Jefferson and Bolivar. By H. W. Van Loon. Harrap. 238 pp.

Twenty years ago “Van Loon’s Lives” quickly established itself as a delightful experiment in biography for younger readers. The author’s latest book, two long essays on Thomas Jefferson and Simon Bolivar, is written in the same sympathetic manner and includes the author’s own quaint illustrations. Van Loon felt, in his own words, that the present generation “should be provided with nice, comfortable, decent human heroes with nobility in their souls to look up to, follow and enjoy.” Jefferson and Bolivar, offered as “new world fighters for freedom,” are his choice. Jefferson has already made a brief appearance in the last chapter of the “Lives.” The two characters are interpreted boldly and sensitively by a great admirer. Bolivar, less familiar, has the greater romantic appeal. He appears as South '‘America’s George Washington, moving over the vast canvas of a continent, winning freedom for Peru, victory for Venezuela and organising a new republic named after him, Bolivia. As history, however, even for juvenile consumption, Mr Van Loon leaves a lot to be desired. He is at pains to “whitewash” his heroes, to explain away the slavery of Jefferson’s Virginia, to attribute to a malevolent “Chance,” which bestows her favours alternately on each side, the mixed career of Bolivar. Younger readers will doubtless enjoy and benefit from this vigorous little book, but it would be a pity if it was accepted as a full, fair and accurate account of the lives of its subjects.