An adventurous, dazzling and original continent-sized history that brings South America's epic past and fascinating present to life
Stretching from the edge of Antarctica to the shores of the Caribbean, South America is a continent of stunning natural beauty and biodiversity, a cultural and culinary powerhouse that feeds, fuels and cools the planet. Yet this vast region remains an enigma to many outsiders, its 450 million inhabitants often forgotten, or stereotyped as eternal victims of colonialism, crime and corruption.
Patria reveals an alternative history of South America, spanning thousands of miles and five centuries to the present. Looking beyond modern borders, Laurence Blair takes as his waymarks nine countries that can't be found on a map- vanished realms, half-imagined utopias and dismembered homelands. He travels to each in turn - on foot and horseback, by rail and river - to trace their rise, fall and unexpected afterlives.
Blair goes in search of ancient Amazonian civilisations, a rebel Inca dynasty in the jungle, and the Patagonian power that defeated Imperial Spain. His journey ranges from a seafaring Peruvian kingdom made rich by bird droppings, to a fearsome nation of fugitives that defied slavery in Brazil, and an insurgent desert confederation that went down fighting with an Andalusian conman. He falls in with Bolivia's landlocked navy, the African freedom fighters who marched over the Andes to liberate the hemisphere, and the New World Napoleon who led Paraguay to its ruin.
Patria incorporates groundbreaking recent scholarship, striking archaeological discoveries and vivid eyewitness reporting - including encounters with drug lords, Indigenous leaders, refugees bound for the United States and former guerrillas - to weave an epic of survival, resistance and revolution. This is the story of South America as is rarely told- at the epicentre of global history and the forging of the modern world.
About the Author
Laurence Blair (b. Poole, Dorset, 1991) is a British writer and journalist. He studied Ancient and Modern History at Oxford University, and he also holds an MA in International Law and International Relations. He is the winner of the 2018 RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for his book Lost Countries of South America and the 2016 Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize for his essay 150 Years of Solitude. Since 2014, he has reported from across Latin America for outlets including the Financial Times, Guardian, BBC and National Geographic. During his research for Lost Countries of South America, he has walked over the Andes in the footsteps of an 1817 revolutionary campaign, explored abandoned guano islands in the Pacific, sailed up the Río Paraguay on a cargo ship and consulted archives and conducted interviews in seven countries to date. He lives in London.
Industry Reviews
Ambitious and far-reaching... integrating research into pre-Columbian remains with the contemporary experience of crossing borders as a sharp-eyed, backpacking witness
— Iain Sinclair
Laurence Blair has invented a completely new genre of literature: magical journalism, at once fantastical and pragmatically droll. It's full of weird wit but also a deep sensitivity to the wounds of national sentiment. It's one of a kind
— Simon Schama
A brilliantly mature intellectual jigsaw puzzle, combining ... nationalistic history, with personal anecdote, travel writing and narrative sweep ... a hugely ambitious project
— Caroline Daniel
This book is a gem: an exuberant history of South America, written with scholarly verve and literary dexterity, and an unputdownable delight from start to finish.
— Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker correspondent
PRAISE FOR 150 YEARS OF SOLITUDE: BOLIVIA'S DREAMS OF THE SEA
Laurence Blair throws away the traditional map and takes a dramatic plunge into little-known corners of South America, moving seamlessly between the complexities of the past and present. This expansive work not only restores these misplaced histories, but also charts important new ways for thinking about the continent’s wider place in the world.
— Carrie Gibson, author of El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America
Combining intrepid reportage and extensive historical research, Patria travels to the heart of South America. A gripping and polemical account of the continent’s rich and often tragic past and troubled present
— Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: A History of The New Latin America
