Written in political exile by one of Argentina's greatest statesmen and intellectuals, this work is ostensibly a biography of the gaucho "barbarian" Juan Facundo Quiroga. It is also a complex and passionate investigation of the dialectic of civilization and barbarism.

Now considered the most important Latin American essay of the nineteenth century, Facundo first appeared in 1845, when Sarmiento was living in political exile from Argentina. Ostensibly a biography of the gaucho "barbarian" Juan Facundo Quiroga, it is also a complex and passionate work of history, sociology, and political commentary. Sarmiento explores the impact of Argentinian geography on the life of the gaucho; chronicles the upbringing and the often bloody political and military adventures of Facundo; and examines the reign of Juan Manuel de Rosas, the tyrannical ruler of Argentina at the time of Sarmiento's writing. This edition includes an informative introduction and a chronology of Sarmiento's life and times.