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The Independent Review

The Call of the Tribe

By Mario Vargas Llosa

New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2022.

Pp. vii, 276. $28 hardcover.

Mario Vargas Llosa’s writing career spans six decades and extends from literature to politics, culture, art, history, philosophy, and intellectual discourse writ large. He has written numerous novels, plays, books, and essays, along with countless news articles and columns. His work explores the themes of political power and identity, art and society, liberty and prosperity. And he consistently though often subtly warns readers about the dangers of homegrown tyrants and outside meddlers, particularly in Latin America. Ever the cosmopolitan, Vargas Llosa’s global perspective has won him relevance to broad international audiences. Among many other awards and recognitions, he was the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Call of the Tribe is his intellectual autobiography. It offers readers a first-hand guided tour into the vision of this visionary. It tells the story of this master storyteller. And, importantly for seeing his relevance to political economy, it recounts Vargas Llosa’s early conversion from communist socialism to his ascendance as one of the most important voices in classical liberalism.

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