Since 1998, a small country with vast oil wealth but an impoverished populace has followed a resolutely revolutionary path. Its leader defies the established order of things, leading his people into a fight to change the world. Heroes of the past provide his inspiration: not only revolutionaries like Simón BolÑvar and Che Guevara, but Don Quixote, the legendary justice-seeker who tilted at windmills. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, provokes strong reactions from all sides. His close personal friendship with Fidel Castro and his virulent attacks on George W. Bush make him a figure both sympathetic and frightening. As the architect of a new Bolivarian revolution, Chávez not only wants to free the Venezuelan people, but help the world rid itself of North American imperialism. Is he a freedom fighter, or a dangerous madman? In the heat of revolutionary struggle, greatness and madness can be hard to tell apart. When idealism is the only guide, there is a constant risk of losing con