History of Venezuela Book

As stated in its foreword the book aims at providing an analytical, concise and up-to-date recount of the country's history. I believe it accomplishes its mission successfully. The book is broad in its scope, starting from the precolonial era and ending in Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution" in 2005. The pace is fast and the authors manage to keep the story interesting while analyzing the most salient details of each period, but still taking the time to talk about the mood of the country at the time. One of my concerns with the book before reading it, was that it might not be impartial enough. However, in the end I felt that the authors were fair in their judgments giving merit and blame where it was due.