Heroes on Horseback: A Life and Times of the Last Gaucho Caudillos.

John Chasteen has written a compelling book on a topic that has attracted the imagination of many: the history of the Latin American caudillos. He has produced, however, a very original piece both because of the 'heroes' whose story he has chosen to tell, and because of the analytical perspective and narrative strategy he has used in doing so.

Gumercindo and Aparicio Saravia were brothers. They lived in the borderlands between Brazil and Uruguay where, at the turn of the century, they became the leaders of irregular armies of mounted men. Gumercindo led his followers to a war against the Republicans of Rio Grande do Sul in 1893 and 1894, and Aparicio, after fighting in …