Simon Bolivar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. Viva South America! sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as independent while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuelas Hugo Chavez and Bolivias Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals?Armed with a reporters notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into peoples homes and into inmates prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South Americas contemporary fight for freedom.