Facundo

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism

File:Facundo sarmiento.jpg The cover of a recent translation, from the University of California Press.
Author	Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Language	Spanish
Publisher	El Progreso de Chile (first, serial, edition in original Spanish)
Publication date	1845
Publication place	Argentina
Published in English	1868 (Mary Mann translation)
Media type	Print

Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism is an 1845 book by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the seventh president of Argentina. It is a keystone in Latin American literature. Subtitled Civilization and Barbarism, Facundo contrasts civilization and barbarism as seen in early nineteenth-century Argentina, especially as a commentary of Juan Manuel de Rosas, the dictator who ruled Argentina from 1829 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1852. The literary critic Roberto González Echevarría calls it "the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre."

Sarmiento published this book to "denounce the tyranny of the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas" Sarmiento attacks Rosas in various ways through his description on the Argentine national character, explanation of the effects of the geographical conditions of Argentina on personality, the contrast of barbarism and civilization in Argentina, and expression of optimism to the future of Argentina when European mores would influence the Argentines.

This book describes the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga. By describing this gaucho, the author gives us the exemplification of the Argentine culture, and the description of the Argentine context. At the same time, Sarmiento found himself in a dichotomy between civilization and barbarism. European countries such as France and Britain, cities in Argentina, the Unitarian political party, General Paz, and Bernardino Rivadavia represent civilization. On the contrary, Latin American countries, rural areas in Argentina, Federalists, as well as Juan Facundo Quiroga and the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas are barbarous. The main character of this book, Juan Facundo Quiroga, who was both a caudillo and leader of the provincial area of Argentina, represents barbarism in the countryside.

Background

Facundo was written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento while he was living in exile in Chile, and is now recognized as "one of the foundational works of Spanish American literary history". In writing Facundo, Sarmiento took vengeance against Juan Facundo Quiroga, who terrorized his native San Juan, but his main targets were Juan Manuel de Rosas and the Latin American cultural phenomenon of caudillismo. This Spanish term is used to describe the rule of the caudillo—the 'strongman' who rules through personal charisma and authority rather than through law.

Facundo is set in early nineteenth century Argentina. Then as now, its capital Buenos Aires was the country's largest and most prosperous city. With coastal access to the South Atlantic and river links with the interior, Buenos Aires was Argentina's window on the world, and was exposed not only to trade-goods but also new cultural ideas through contact with other nations. As a result, during the nineteenth century the capital became a city characterized by European culture. In comparison other Argentine cities of that era were small and both culturally and geographically insulated, so eventually tension arose between Buenos Aires and the rest of the country.

Argentine civil war

In 1826, an assembly elected Bernardino Rivadavia as president of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata. This action roused the ire of the provinces, and civil war was the result. Support for a strong, centralized Argentine government was based in Buenos Aires, and gave rise to two opposing groups. The wealthy and educated of the Unitarian Party, such as Sarmiento, favored centralized government. While Sarmiento was pro-American and two contemporary U.S. presidents belonged to Unitarian churches, the two similarly named groups were not the same. In opposition to them were the Federalists, who were mainly based in rural areas and tended to reject European mores. Numbering figures such as Juan Manuel de Rosas and Juan Facundo Quiroga among their ranks, they were in favor of a loose federation with more autonomy for the individual provinces.

Opinion of the Rivadavia government was divided between the two ideologies. For Unitarians like Sarmiento, Rivadavia's presidency was a positive experience. He set up a European-staffed university and supported a public education program for rural male children. He also supported theater and opera groups, publishing houses and a museum. These contributions were considered as civilizing influences by the Unitarians, but they upset the Federalist constituency. Common laborers had their salaries subjected to a government cap, and the gauchos were arrested by Rivadavia for vagrancy and forced to work on public projects, usually without pay.

In 1827, the Unitarians were challenged by Federalist forces. Rivadavia lost a war against Brazil and stepped down from the presidency. With the help of Juan Manuel de Rosas (a wealthy and politically powerful Federalist), Manuel Dorrego was installed as governor of the Buenos Aires province. He quickly made peace with Brazil but, on returning to Argentina, was overthrown and executed by his own troops. The Unitarian general Juan Lavalle was elected to take Dorrego's place. However, Lavalle did not spend long as governor either: he was soon overthrown by a militia composed largely of gauchos and led by Rosas. By the end of 1829 the old legislature that Lavalle had disbanded was back in place and had appointed Rosas as governor of Buenos Aires.

Rosas dictatorship

Juan Manuel de Rosas, the caudillo dictator of Argentina and target of Sarmiento's Facundo.

In the years between the death of Juan Facundo Quiroga and the publication of Facundo, Juan Manuel de Rosas was granted absolute power over Buenos Aires by the legislature which he reinstated. Rosas was strongly against government without law, so the legislators condoned his rule as dictator for a three year term. With the help of Juan Facundo Quiroga and caudillo Estanislao Lopez, he enjoyed general support from the Argentine people since he helped maintain both the peace between Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina, and the social status quo. He stepped down from his position after his three year term had ended and without his strong leadership, Argentina soon moved towards chaos. The Buenos Aires legislature begged him to resume his position on his own terms, and his terms were absolute power. The assassination of Juan Facundo Quiroga was a factor in this decision, since the death of such a powerful caudillo threatened anarchy.

Rosas embraced totalitarianism and forced his citizens to support Federalism and his regime. At that time, all documents, including personal correspondence, had to begin with a phrase that showed support for Rosas's Federalist government. Furthermore, the press was censored and the mazorca (Rosas's vigilante militia) was ordered to patrol the streets to prevent disorder. Rosas's wide-ranging powers enabled him to arrest or imprison anyone, subject them to torture or execution, or have them exiled.

Synopsis

Sarmiento divided Facundo into 15 chapters. It is difficult to classify as belonging to a specific genre, as it combines "history, biography, sociology, geography, poetic description, and political propaganda". It broadly falls into three sections, in which the first (Chapters I to IV) examines Argentine geography and history, the second (Chapters V to XIV) recounts Juan Facundo Quiroga's life, and the third (Chapter XV) expounds on Sarmiento's vision of Argentina's possible future under a Unitarist government.

Argentine context

South America, showing the extent of the Pampas in Argentina and Uruguay

Sarmiento begins Facundo by providing a physical description of Argentina. He undertakes a detailed examination of its geography, from the Chilean Andes to the Atlantic Ocean, and describes its many rivers which converge in the Río de la Plata. Sarmiento suggests that Buenos Aires is the only city that benefits from Argentina's river systems, and is therefore the most likely candidate to achieve civilization. However, Buenos Aires fails to influence the rest of Argentina, and thus barbarism continues to exist in the countryside. According to Sarmiento, it is as a result of this that the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas was produced and was able to take control of Buenos Aires. Argentina's failure to attain civilization is attributed to its geography; mostly vast and featureless plains called pampas, which offer no places of either concealment or defence.

The Argentine plains, or pampas. For Sarmiento, this bleak, featureless geography was a key factor in Argentina's failure to achieve civilization.

Sarmiento then illustrates the originality of Argentine culture and introduces four types of gaucho: the rastreador, baqueano, the bad gaucho, and the cantor. He argues that, although the geographical condition of Argentina created barbarism, it has made the inhabitants poetic due to the dramatic natural environment. Sarmiento believes the literature of the Americas should reflect the special geographic situation in Argentina and should illustrate "the struggle between European civilization and indigenous barbarism, between intelligence and matter." He explains that understanding the four types of gaucho brings understanding and clarification of the characters of various Argentine leaders, including Rosas.

Sarmiento further asserts that Argentine peasants are "independent of all need, free of all subjection, with no idea of government." Hence they turn to the gatherings in the pulpería (the taverns), where they spent their days drinking and gambling. They prove themselves through horsemanship and knife fighting—although actual killings were rare, Rosas's residence was used as an asylum for the killers. According to Sarmiento, these factors aid understanding of the revolution in which Argentina gained independence from Spain. Before the revolution, Argentina was divided into two opposing forces: on one side were the Spanish, who were European and civilized, and on the other were the barbarous Americans. After the revolution, military associations called montoneras propelled caudillos to power, which led to the triumph of Facundo Quiroga.

Sarmiento goes on to explain the importance of the Argentine Revolution in 1810. Argentina's war of independence was inspired by European ideas, but he argues that only in cities like Buenos Aires could these civilized ideas find fertile ground. In the countryside—according to Sarmiento, full of barbarism—the inhabitants participated in the revolution since war allowed them rein for their aggressive and brutal instincts. However, the revolution was not ultimately successful since these barbaric inhabitants went on to despoil the civilization in the cities.

Biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga

Facundo's second part is a biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga, the "Tiger of the Plains". Born to a wealthy family, Facundo receives little education. An antisocial and rebellious youth, he is also an avid gambler and rapidly gambles away his inheritance. Breaking off relations with his family as a result, he burns down the family home and becomes an outlaw, joining the caudillo in the Entre Ríos province. However, a spell in jail leads to his being acclaimed a hero, when during a jailbreak he kills a group of Spaniards who had been imprisoned alongside him. He journeys to the province of La Rioja where, from fear or esteem, he is given the title of sergeant major of the Llanos Militia. Although he gains a reputation for being courageous and fierce in battle, and becomes wealthy and powerful, he still hates those things he cannot acquire—"fine manners, an education, a basis for respectability" —and so destroys those people who have them. His barbaric nature ruins the once prosperous La Rioja province.

Sarmiento then illustrates the dichotomy of civilization and barbarism in two cities, Buenos Aires and Córdoba, before resuming his biography of Facundo. In 1825 Bernadino Rivadavia, then governor of Buenos Aires, summons all the provincial leaders to the capital. Facundo attends as a representative of La Rioja, and is ordered to suppress a rival who has too much power. Successful, Facundo raises at his victory a flag which is "a black cloth with a skull and crossbones in the middle". The author contrasts Facundo's flag with Argentina's flag; the former representing death, fear and hell and the latter peace and justice.

Rivadavia soon resigns and is replaced by Dorrego, a Federalist. However, Dorrego is not concerned about ending barbarism in the provinces and thus Sarmiento argues that Buenos Aires failed to bring civilization to the rest of Argentina and led to the dictatorship of Rosas. Dorrego is killed during the revolt of the Unitarists, and General Paz defeats Facundo in the battle. Sarmiento contrasts Facundo with Paz, describing the latter as "the most total representative of the power of civilized peoples". Facundo escapes to Buenos Aires and joins Rosas's Federalist government. Under Federalist opposition to the Unitarists, Facundo successfully conquers Rio Quinto, San Luis, and Mendoza. He then returns to San Juan, but the power he proceeds to exercise over neighbouring towns is not recognized by Rosas. Eventually Facundo proclaims himself a Unitarist—a move of expediency rather than conviction, since he does not support Unitarian policies. Facundo's change of direction is intended to lend credibility to his new-found opposition to Rosas, who has recently resumed the dictatorship and become a despot. Facundo heads to Buenos Aries to confront the dictator, but is diverted to deal with an incident in north Buenos Aries. His carriage is stopped en route and Facundo is shot dead. According to Sarmiento, the murder was plotted by Rosas: "An impartial history still awaits facts and revelations, in order to point its finger at the instigator of the assassins".

Consequences of Facundo's death

In the final chapters, Sarmiento delves into the consequences that derived from Facundo's death for the history and politics of the Argentine Republic. He further analyzes Rosas's government, commenting on dictatorship, tyranny, the use of force to maintain order and stability, the support of the people, and Rosas's personality. Sarmiento criticizes Rosas by using the words of the dictator, making sarcastic remarks about what Rosas was doing and describing the "terror" that was established during the dictatorship, the contradictions of the government and the situation in the provinces that were ruled by Facundo: "The red ribbon is a materialization of the terror that accompanies you everywhere, in the streets, in the bosom of the family; it must be thought about when dressing, shen undressing, and ideas are always engraved upon us by association"

Finally, Sarmiento examines the consequences of Rosas's government by attacking the dictator and establishing a bigger dichotomy. By setting France, symbolizing civilization, against Argentina, representing barbarism, Sarmiento contrasts culture and savagery: "France's blockade had lasted for two years, and the "American" government, inspired by "American" spirit, was facing off with France, European principles, European pretensions. The social results of the French blockade, however, had been fruitful for the Argentine Republic, and served to demonstrate in all their nakedeness the current state of minf and the new elements of struggle, which were to ignite a fierce war than can end only with the fall of that monstrous government"

Main Characters

Facundo

Juan Facundo Quiroga. As the central character of Sarmiento's Facundo, he represents barbarism as the antithesis of civilization.

Juan Facundo Quiroga is the book's central character. He is called the "Tiger of the Plains", and is described as being "el jugador", meaning the player. He loves to gamble, to the point where gambling is described for him as "an ardent passion burning in his belly". Portrayed as wild and untamed, Facundo is a normal caudillo of the period. He had a narrow education, only learning to read and write. Through him Sarmiento demonstrates that the caudillos were more barbaric than civilized, linking to one of the themes of his book.

During his childhood, Facundo is depicted as being stubborn, uninvolved and a loner. At the time of his rise to El General, he is described as being of a short yet muscular stature, well built with wide, broad shoulders a short neck supporting his slightly oval face. His features are typical of a caudillo at that time, with thick curly hair and a black beard. His strong black eyes, covered by bushy eyebrows and filled with passion and wilderness, were a key element that terrified many. According to Sarmiento, "Quiroga governed San Juan solely with his terrifying name."

Juan Manuel de Rosas

Sarmiento directed Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism against the dictator Rosas, during whose reign Facundo was written. Although ostensibly about Juan Facundo Quiroga, the book was also "a vantage point from which to explore the social and historical situation" under Rosas's tyranny.

Juan Manuel de Rosas was a landowner, a rural caudillo, and the dictator of Buenos Aires from 1829 to 1852. He was born into a wealthy, high status family, but his harsh mother had a huge influence on his development. Sarmiento argues that because of his mother, "the spectacle of authority and servitude must have left lasting impressions on him." Banished to an estancia by his father when he was barely into puberty, Rosas remained there for almost thirty years. By 1824 he had established an authoritarian style in dealing with matters regarding the estancias, and had introduced a harsh regime. Sarmiento points out that this is the type of regime he later tried out in Buenos Aires. In government, Rosas imprisoned many citizens for unknown reasons, and for long periods, which was much like the roundup in which cattle were tamed and enclosed inside the corral. Sarmiento also argues that the whippings in the street and the massacres were his methods of making his citizens like the "tamest, most orderly cattle known."

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

In Facundo, Sarmiento is both the narrator and a main character. The book contains autobiographical elements from Sarmiento’s life, and he comments on the entire Argentine situation. He also analyses and expresses his own opinion, as well as chronicling some historic events. In the book's dichotomy between civilization and barbarism, Sarmiento's character represents civilization, steeped as he is in European and North American ideas. He stands for education and development, as opposed to both Rosas and Facundo, who symbolise barbarism.

In real life, Sarmiento was an educator, a civilized man who was a militant adherent to the Unitarian movement. During the Argentine civil war he fought against Facundo several times, and while in Spain became a member of the Literary Society of Professors. Exiled to Chile by Rosas when he started to write Facundo, Sarmiento would later return as a politician. He was member of the Senate after Rosas's fall, and was president of Argentina for six years (1868–1874). During his presidency, Sarmiento concentrated on migration, sciences, and culture. His ideas were based on European civilization; for him, the development of a country was rooted in education. To this end, he founded Argentina's military and naval colleges.

Genre and style

Literary critic Ezequiel Martínez Estrada argues: "I never took Facundo by Sarmiento, as a historical work, nor do I think it can be very valued in that regard. I always thought of it as a literary work, as a historical novel." However, Facundo cannot be classified either as a novel or as a specific genre of literature. According to González Echevarría, the book is an "essay, biography, autobiography, novel, epic, memoir, confession, political pamphlet, diatribe, scientific treatise, travelogue" at the same time. Sarmiento's style unifies the three distinct portions of his work, and the common thread is the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga. Even the first section, describing Argentina's geography, follows this pattern, since Sarmiento contends that Facundo is a natural product of this environment.

Furthermore, the book is a combination between the fiction and the real context of the Argetinean Republic. In the book, Rosas has characteristics of both, the real life and the imagination of Sarmiento. Because the book is criticizing the government, the dictatorship is seen as the main cause of all the problems in Argentina, therefore, the barbarism and the savagism that Sarmiento is explaining in all the book, is a function of the dictatorship. .

Themes

Civilization and barbarism

More than just a critique of Rosas's dictatorship, Facundo is also a broader investigation into Argentine history and culture, which Sarmiento charts through the rise, controversial rule, and downfall of Juan Facundo Quiroga, an archetypical Argentine caudillo. Sarmiento summarizes the book's message in the phrase: "That is the point: to be or not to be savages." This dichotomy, between civilization and barbarism, is the book's central idea; Facundo Quiroga is portrayed as wild, untamed, and as standing in opposition to true progress through the common enlightenment of European society—found at that time in the metropolitan society of Buenos Aires.

The conflict between civilization and barbarism mirrors Latin America's struggle in its post-Independence era. Although Sarmiento was not the one to create this dichotomy, he turned it into an influential concept that would impact on future Latin America Literature. He explores the issue of civilization versus the cruder aspects of a caudillo culture of brutality and absolute power. Caudillos like Facundo Quiroga are seen, at the beginning of the book, as the antithesis of education, high culture, and civil stability. They are the agents of instability and chaos, destroying societies through their blatant disregard for humanity and social progress.

As caudillos took control of Argentina and other Latin American countries, establishing authoritarian governments, questions of what was best for the progress of society were largely ignored by the ruling elites in preference for the immediate goal of exploiting the masses. Facundo set forth an opposition message that promoted a more beneficial alternative for society at large. Although Sarmiento advocated various changes, such as honest officials who understood enlightenment ideas of European and Classical origin, for him education was the essential key. He viewed barbarism, linked with ignorance, poverty, lack of education and anarchy, as a never-ending litany of social ills. He used the pampas wilderness described in Facundo to illustrate his social analysis; those who were isolated and opposed to political dialogue were symbols of ignorance and anarchy, a reflection of Argentina's desolate physical geography.

If Sarmiento viewed himself as civilized, Rosas was barbaric. Literary critic David Rock argues that "contemporary opponents reviled Rosas as a bloody tyrant and a symbol of barbarism." Sarmiento attacked Rosas through his book by promoting education and "civilized" status, while using political power to dispose of any kind of hindrance. In linking Europe with civilization, and civilization with education, Sarmiento conveyed an admiration of European culture and civilization which at the same time gave him a sense of dissatisfaction with his own culture, motivating him to move towards civilization. Conversely Latin America was connected to barbarism, which Sarmiento used mainly to illustrate the way in which Argentina was disconnected from the numerous resources surrounding it, which limited the growth of the country.

Although the land of Argentina and its impact on the socialization work as a boundary to move towards to a civilized society, the historical influence manages to push civilization-barbarism to move forward which gradually bring about the achievement of civilization. This forward movement is shown in the final chapters of Facundo, where the head of power is removed to permit continuation of the journey towards civilization.

Writing and Power

In post-independence Latin American history, dictatorships have been relatively common—Hugo Chávez, Augusto Pinochet and Fidel Castro are among the region's more notable examples. In this context, Latin American literature has been distinguished by the protest novel; the main story is based around the dictator figure, his behavior, characteristics and the situation of the people under his regime. Writers such as Sarmiento used the power of the written word in order to criticize government, using literature as a tool, an instance of resistance and as a weapon against repression.

Making use of the connection between writing and power was one of Sarmiento's strategies. For him, writing was a catalyst that aroused action. While the gauchos fought with physical weapons, Sarmiento used his voice and language. Text was used as a weapon. Sarmiento wanted his book to gain an audience, not only in Argentina, but also in Europe and United States—his purpose was to seduce his readers toward his own political point of view. The numerous translations of Facundo are proof of this concept; for Sarmiento, writing was associated with prestige, power, and conquest.

Sarmiento mocks the government in many of his books, although Facundo is the most overt example. He elevates his own status at the expense of the ruling elite, almost portraying himself as invincible due to the power of writing. Toward the end of 1840, Sarmiento was exiled. Covered with bruises received the day before from unruly soldiers, he wrote in French "On ne tue point les idees" (misquoted from "on ne tue pas de coups de fusil aux idees", which means "ideas cannot be killed by guns"). The government summoned a commission to decipher the message, and on learning the translation, said "So! What does this mean?" With the failure of his oppressors to understand his meaning, Sarmiento is able to illustrate their ineptitude. His written words are presented as a "code" that needs to be "deciphered". Unlike Sarmiento, those in power are barbaric and uneducated, and their bafflement not only demonstrates the ignorance of Rosas’s associates, but also shows the essential displacement in cultural absence.

Legacy

Facundo has been enormously influential. Not only is it the founding text of Argentine literature but, according to literary critic González Echevarría, it is the first Latin American classic, and the most important book written about Latin America by a Latin American in any discipline or genre. He argues that "in proposing the dialect between civilization and barbarism as the central conflict in Latin American culture it gave shape to a polemic that began in the colonial period and continues to the present day in various guises." He asserts that Facundo provided the impetus for other writers to examine dictatorship in Latin America. Moreover, González Echevarría explains that Facundo is still read today since Sarmiento created a voice for modern Latin American authors. He argues that the reason for this is that "Latin American authors struggle with its legacy, rewriting Facundo in their works even as they try to untangle themselves from its discourse." Subsequent dictator novels, such as The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias and The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa, were influenced by its publication.

According to González Echevarría, due to the immensity of Sarmiento's legacy both in the essay genre and in Argentine fictional literature, the gaucho has become "an object of nostalgia, a lost origin around which to build a national mythology." He argues that Juan Facundo Quiroga continues to exist, since he represents "our unresolved struggle between good and evil and our lives' inexorable drive toward death." According to translator Kathleen Ross, Facundo continues to inspire controversy and debate because it contributes to "national myths of modernization, anti-populism, and racist ideology."

Early Facundo readers were deeply motivated and inspired by the information that Sarmiento provided, and the struggles that occurred during and after Rosas's dictatorship. Because of this, their views moved from conciliation to antipathy for political hegemony. An empirical proof of the book's influence is the fact of Sarmiento’s rise to power. He became president of Argentina in 1868—an educator and writer, he used his skills to his advantage in order to consolidate the nation. Sorenson states that "Facundo lends itself admirably to being read as a blueprint for modernization", underlined by the great impact that the book and its author had in Argentina. Sarmiento wrote several books, but he viewed Facundo as authorizing his claims to political office.

Publication and translation history

The first edition of Facundo was published in instalments in 1845, in the literary supplement of the Chilean newspaper El Progreso. The second edition, also published in Chile (in 1851), contained significant alterations—Sarmiento removed the last two chapters on the advice of Valentín Alsina, an exiled Argentinian lawyer and politician. However the missing sections reappeared in 1874 in a later edition, because Sarmiento saw them as crucial to the development of the book.

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. 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 about Mann's nineteenth-century version of the text that it "had much to do with the fact that in 1868 Sarmiento was a candidate for the Argentine presidency" and "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."

See also

• The Dictator Novel

References

• Bravo, Héctor Félix (1994), "Domingo Faustino Sarmiento" (PDF), Prospects: The Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 24 (3/4), Paris: UNESCO: International Bureau of Education: 487–500, retrieved March 15, 2008.

• Carilla, Emilio (1973), Lengua y estilo en el Facundo, Buenos Aires: Universidad nacional de Tucumán, ISBN 3942402108 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help).

• González Echevarría, Roberto (1985), The Voice of the Masters: Writing and Authority in Modern Latin American Literature, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292787162.

• González Echevarría, Roberto (2003), "Facundo: An Introduction", in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 1–16.

• Ludmer, Josefina (2002), The Gaucho Genre: A Treatise on the Motherland, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, ISBN 0822328445. Trans. Molly Weigel.

• Lynch, John (1981), Argentine Dictator: Juan Manuel de Rosas 1829–1852, New York, US: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198211295

• Martínez Estrada, Ezequiel (1969), Sarmiento, Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, ISBN 9508451076.

• Moss, Joyce; Valestuk, Lorraine (1999), "Facundo: Domingo F. Sarmiento", Latin American Literature and Its Times, vol. 1, World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them, Detroit: Gale Group, pp. 171–180, ISBN 0787637262

• Newton, Jorge (1965), Facundo Quiroga: Aventura y leyenda, Buenos Aires: Plus Ultra, ISBN unavailable {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

• Ross, Kathleen (2003), "Translator's Introduction", in Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (ed.), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, trans. Kathleen Ross, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 17–26.

• Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (1868), Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; Civilization and Barbarism. With a Biographical Sketch of the Author, New York: Hafner Publishing Co.. First published in 1868. Trans. Mrs.Horace Mann.

• Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (2003), Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (published 1845), ISBN 0520239806 The first complete English translation. Trans. Kathleen Ross.

• Sorensen Goodrich, Diana (1996), Facundo and the Construction of Argentine Culture, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292727909

External links

• Facundo in the original Spanish