General Juan José Flores rose from humble social origins in Venezuela to attain eminence in the wars of independence and the first presidency of Ecuador. His conviction that Ecuador was ungovernable under republican forms led to a secret attempt to establish monarchy, not only in Ecuador but also in Peru and Bolivia. Failure and exile followed, but he returned to participate in the dictatorship of Gabriel García Moreno. In this finely researched political biography of Flores, Mark Van Aken shows that monarchism was a much more important force in early Ecuador than is commonly thought. This important study of Flores"s political career contains much hitherto unknown information about Ecuador"s early independent history and the leading individuals involved in its politics. It will be of great interest to Latin Americanists, not only because it is a major new interpretation of that period of Ecuadorian history but also because of its relevance to other Latin American monarchist efforts.