The Battle for Peace

The Long Road to Ending a War with the World's Oldest Guerrilla Army

By: Juan Manuel Santos, Joe Broderick - translator, John Kerry - foreword

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

This is the comprehensive account of the long and difficult road traveled to end the 50-year armed conflict with the FARC, the oldest guerrilla army in the world; a long war that left more than eight million victims. The obstacles to peace were both large and dangerous. All previous attempts to negotiate with the FARC had failed, creating an environment where differences were irreconcilable and political will was scarce. The Battle for Peace is the story not only of the six years of negotiation and the peace process that transformed a country, its secret contacts, its international implications, and difficulties and achievements, but also of the two previous decades in which Colombia oscillated between warlike confrontation and negotiated solution.

In The Battle for Peace, Juan Manuel Santos shares the lessons he learned about war and peace and how to build a successful negotiation process in the context of a nation which had all but resigned itself to war and the complexities of 21st-century international law and diplomacy. While Santos is clear that there is no handbook for making peace, he offers conflict-tested guidance on the critical parameters, conditions, and principles as well as rich detail on the innovations that made it possible for his nation to find common ground and a just solution.

©2021 the University Press of Kansas (P)2021 Tantor

Sounds Like a Ghostwriter

Certainly, the resolution of over a half century of conflict in Columbia is an essential story. And I feel safe assuming Juan Manuel Santos is a great man deserving of all his accolades. But I did not get much of that from this book. I went in looking for a inside account of the history of the conflict with the FARC and it's resolution, and I'm honestly not sure what I took away. One thing is for sure, it feels like this was written by a ghost writer and not Santos himself. Some of it might be caused by translations, but there are some things that just jump out as not being autobiographical. For one, in some places the book is annoyingly self-congratulatory, and in others dishonestly humble. It just doesn't feel like a singular, personal voice. And another hint is that the book is overflowing with long quotes from Santos's previous speeches and writings. This, along with the author's habit to call out by name every single person involved in every single event, means only a third or less of the book is actual content about the historical events or Santos's perspective. There's just not a lot of deep value in between all the fluff and filler.