One Hundred Years of Solitude

In 1967 Gabriel Marquez published (in spanish) One Hundred Years of Solitude, a novel following the "imaginary" town of Macondo, Colombia for one hundred years. Later on, he admitted that the town was actually based on the area he grew up in.
The story begins with the founding of Macondo, and follows through its early stages of political developement. As civil war breaks out, some of the villagers take on roles in the militia. With the absence of it's main leaders, Macondo quicky becomes a dictatorship. The overthrow of this government and subsequent peace treaty make up the next part of the story, followed by the settlement of foreigners into the town. The resulting story is considered Marquez's greatest work, and was published in English in 1970.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_hundred_years_of_solitude