Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism

work by Sarmiento

Also known as: “Facundo”

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July 16, 2026

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Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism is a significant work by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, published in 1845. The book is a sociological-biographical study that critiques the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas and his gaucho lieutenant, Juan Facundo Quiroga.1

Sarmiento uses the biography of Quiroga as a lens to examine the broader conflict between "civilization" and "barbarism" in Argentina. He advocates for industrialization and urbanization as a means to progress, contrasting this with the traditional culture of the gauchos on the Argentine pampas. Despite its criticisms, the work is celebrated for its vivid depiction of the gaucho life and the pampas, making it a classic of Latin American literature. The book is also noted for its passionate denunciation of Rosas's rule and is considered by some to be the most important book produced in Spanish America.1

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caudillismo
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s 1845 book Facundo provided the classical interpretation of caudillismo in Latin America in the 1800s, framing it as the expression of political barbarism and the antithesis of a government that ensures security, freedom, and ownership rights for a country’s inhabitants. Sarmiento’s book is a portrait of Juan…
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Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s 1845 book Facundo provided the classical interpretation of caudillismo in Latin America in the 1800s, framing it as the expression of political barbarism and the antithesis of a government that ensures security, freedom, and ownership rights for a country’s inhabitants. Sarmiento’s book is a portrait of Juan…
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Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
…period in Chile, Sarmiento wrote Facundo, an impassioned denunciation of Rosas’s dictatorship in the form of a biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga, Rosas’s tyrannical gaucho lieutenant. The book has been criticized for its erratic style and oversimplifications, but it has also been called the single most important book produced in…
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…period in Chile, Sarmiento wrote Facundo, an impassioned denunciation of Rosas’s dictatorship in the form of a biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga, Rosas’s tyrannical gaucho lieutenant. The book has been criticized for its erratic style and oversimplifications, but it has also been called the single most important book produced in…
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gaucho literature
…Faustino Sarmiento in Facundo (1845; Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism), a classic account of the cultural clash between the Pampas and the civilizing forces of the city. This theme of the clash between the old and the new informed a…
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…Faustino Sarmiento in Facundo (1845; Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism), a classic account of the cultural clash between the Pampas and the civilizing forces of the city. This theme of the clash between the old and the new informed a…
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Latin American literature
Romanticism
…de Juan Facundo Quiroga (1845; Life in the Argentine Republic in the Age of the Tyrants) is arguably the most important book ever written by a Latin American. It was written during Sarmiento’s second exile in Chile, as a political pamphlet against Rosas. But the book, which grew in subsequent…
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…de Juan Facundo Quiroga (1845; Life in the Argentine Republic in the Age of the Tyrants) is arguably the most important book ever written by a Latin American. It was written during Sarmiento’s second exile in Chile, as a political pamphlet against Rosas. But the book, which grew in subsequent…
Read More