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essays, Nicaraguan, tr D J Flakoll ... Read more

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"This is the only major study of Nicaraguan cinema and, as such, it is invaluable not only to film students, but also to third world studies and cultural work. . . . In a world dominated by corporate culture, the effort by a small, poor, underdeveloped country to construct a national film project has importance as a model despite its failures."--DeeDee Halleck, author of Hand-Held Visions: The Uses of Community MediaFollowing the Sandinista Revolution in 1979, young bohemian artists rushed to the newly formed Nicaraguan national film institute INCINE to contribute to "the recovery of national identity" through the creation of a national film project. Over the next eleven years, the filmmakers of INCINE produced over seventy films--documentary, fiction, and hybrids--that collectively reveal a unique vision of the Revolution drawn not from official FSLN directives, but from the filmmakers' own cinematic interpretations of the Revolution as they were living it. This book examines the INCINE film project and assesses its achievements in recovering a Nicaraguan national identity through the creation of a national cinema. Using a wealth of firsthand documentation--the films themselves, interviews with numerous INCINE personnel, and INCINE archival records--Jonathan Buchsbaum follows the evolution of INCINE's project and situates it within the larger historical project of militant, revolutionary filmmaking in Latin America. His research also raises crucial questions about the viability of national cinemas in the face of accelerating globalization and technological changes which reverberate far beyond Nicaragua's experiment in revolutionary filmmaking. ... Read more

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When a client approaches a prostitute, he is rarelyinterested in buying school supplies for her children, and she isjust as unlikely to be interested in the sex. Yet these materialexchanges are the foundation of the sex economy.Indeed, if there isone unifying factor in the experiences of sex workers, it is fastmoney. The sex sector offers more money in fewer hours thanvirtually any other type of employment.Fast money comes at a high price, however. Sexworkers face daily risks to their health, safety and emotionalwell-being. How well they manage these risks has enormous implications fortheir families, communities, and society more broadly. What's Money Got To Do With It? takes readers to thestreets, brothels and strip clubs of Managua to explore theeconomic dimensions of the sex industry. It describes, in sexworkers' words, why and when they risk violence and disease, and whatmoney has to do with these decisions. Their experiences havethe potential to change the way address key policy challenges relatedto the sex industry, from employment and human rights, toviolence and the spread of disease. ... Read more

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Visions of Solidarity is currently the only study of peace activist's transformation from an anti-war struggle to an anti-globalization struggle. It explores the power dynamics between citizen activists in the Global North and South, examining efforts at reframing issues of social justice over time, and highlighting transnational feminist politics and agency at the local level. ... Read more

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Robert May offers an imaginative new approach to antebellum America's notorious "filibusters"--the adventurers who organized or participated in private military attacks on nations with which the United States was formally at peace. Condemned abroad as pirates, the filibusters were often celebrated at home as heroes who epitomized the spirit of Manifest Destiny. May explains the romantic, mercenary, ideological, and psychological desires that drove thousands of men to join filibustering expeditions; how they were financed; and why the U.S. government had little success in curtailing them. He also reveals the legacy of anti-Americanism that filibustering generated in Latin America, where people regarded the attackers much the way we look upon international terrorists today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not well-written but well-researched
If you're looking for relaxing weekend reading and a well-spun tale then avoid this book. I imagine that it is excellent source for academichistorians of the period. There are scattered references to a few critical incidents all through the book so it is not easy to follow.
I was also disappointed that the book is written only from a US-centric perspective with no coverage of the victims of filibustering: did nothing of note happen in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, etc during the period? How were the coalitions built that finally disgorged Walker and other filibusters from their Central American footholds? The epilogue finally addresses some of the damage that these pirates did to US reputation in the rest of the Americas, but a lot more could be said.

Great study from a great historian


I had the honor of studying under Professor May as a graduate student in the early 90s. May had the well earned reputation of being a tough task master, especially when it came to our research skills and proper citation of sources.This work lives up to my memories of the author as being exacting, an exceptional writer, and "deep" in his examination of a fascinating and little known phenomena in the pre-war South.Highly recommended to serious students of the period and the more general reader wishing to explore the activities of proponents of slavery and American expansionism prior to the advent of the war.

Filled with Fillibusters
Manifest Destiny's Underworld, a book written by Dr. Robert E. May of Purdue University, offers an in depth look at mid-19th Century filibusters.

Dr. May first gives a detailed history of the filibusters.First, he details the origins of the name and then describes the roots of filibustering.Then, he details all the prominent attempts to filibuster.He goes on to explain why Americans filibustered, why the United States government was unable to stop the filibusters, and the logistics involved in financing a filibuster attempt.Lastly, he deals with the consequences of the filibuster movement; specifically, how it affected United States foreign policy and the War Between the States.

Dr. May's goal in writing this book was to give the filibuster movement its proper place in history.He thought that too few historians had studied what the filibuster movement was, who was involved, how it came about, and its consequences.Dr. May wished for people to get a better understanding of the filibusters and what they meant in the history of America.

Dr. May did an excellent job in making his arguments and conclusions.Every time he makes a proposition, he backs up the statement with numerous facts.At the end of the book are 107 pages of notes, showing the amount of detail Dr. May gave to the book.I had always thought filibusters sought the expansion of slavery, and were few.This book taught me how widespread the filibuster movement was, and how much United States officials hated it.I never before realized how much the filibuster movement affected antebellum life in America.Previous lessons about filibusters never taught me as much as this book; after reading this book, I feel that I have read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Filibusters, only writtenin words that do not insult my intelligence.The author could not have done a better job at illustrating his points.

The best feature of the book is how well organized it is.Everything is logically discussed at the appropriate time.The voluminous notes guarantee the academic reliability of the book.

The only thing wrong with this book is that some details were skipped over in order to give further impact of other subjects.The epilogue was rather rushed; more detail about filibusters adjusting to life after the War Between the States would have been welcomed.A comparison between the filibusters and the gold miners of the California Gold Rush and the Yukon Rush would have been welcomed.The legacy of the filibusters in the annexation of Hawaii in the 1890's would also have been welcomed.Also, the Monroe Doctrine was curiously absent throughout the book; how it was impacted by the filibuster movement seems necessary, but absent.Still, it is easy to overlook these deficiencies.

Still, I am glad that I have read this book.As an American historian, I feel now that I had missed out on an important aspect of antebellum American society.I never before realized how necessary it was for an American historian to have knowledge of the filibusters. ... Read more

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Life stories of the Nicaraguan Revolution delineates the human dmension of the current conflict-what it is like to be alive in Nicaragua today. ... Read more

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The focus of this volume is an examination of the relationship between political consciousness and religious discourse in Nicaragua, during the period of revolutionary government and since the FSLN's (Sandinista National Liberation Front) 1990 electoral loss. ... Read more

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This multicultural activity book celebrates the myriad cultures of Mexico and Central America and their shared ancient Aztec and Mayan roots. For each country, a brief introduction is provided that includes illustrated maps and facts about population and geography. More than 40 projects and three dramatic play scripts explore the interconnectedness of these countries and help children experience aspects of daily life throughout the region including school, work, home, art and poetry, food and agriculture, and special holidays. Activities include embroidering Mayan designs, painting in the Salvadoran style, creating an ofrenda for the Day of the Dead, crafting political puppets, cooking chocobananas, and making piñatas. Engaging sidebars throughout the book provide children with an introduction to the Spanish language. Also included are tips for teachers who want to use the activities in the classroom, complete with more specific age ranges and suggested modifications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very politicized

I'm an elementary school Spanish teacher, and this book looked wonderful to me at first glance. Yes, there are lots of cute crafts and recipes, and lots of info about geography, history, and culture. However, there's definitely a whiff of PC here, and an anti-American, anti-European,
pro-illegal immigration slant. Lots of material about strikes, unions,
sweatshops, the evils of big business, etc. Yes, the history of Latin America is very complex, and colonization was not a pretty thing, but this book's leftist/socialist slant is excessive. ... Read more

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Entra la poesfa y la paredes la culminaci=n de una serie de estudios que ha ido publicando Klaas Wellinga, tanto en holandTs como en espa±ol, sobre la politica cultural de los sandinistas:De bergen, de vogels en Sandino(La montana, los pßjaros y Sa ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Agent of Empire is a detailed study of creative works inspired by the escapades of the American soldier of fortune William Walker. The leader of several fractious, bloody forays into Mexico and Central America in the 1850s, Walker was executed in 1860 by a Honduran firing squad. Brady Harrison looks at a dozen works, such as Bret Harte’s novel The Crusade of Excelsior (1887) and Alex Cox’s film Walker (1987), to show how Walker’s life and legacy have been explored in journalism, poetry, fiction, drama, and cinema for over a century. At the heart of our ongoing interest in Walker, says Harrison, is the need to understand the ever-shifting ambitions and arguments that have driven American economic, military, and paramilitary ventures around the globe over the past 150 years.

Harrison discusses how the mercenary romance, an understudied subgenre of the historical romance first popularized by Bret Harte and Richard Harding Davis, owes its conception to William Walker. Engaging the work of other scholars such as Quentin Anderson and Judith Butler, Harrison places Walker in the company of Aaron Burr, Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver North, and other American conquistadors. Walker and such fellow agents of empire, Harrison argues, exemplify a peculiar merging of Emersonian inner mastery and the American habit of equating self with nation. Inward-looking at first, they soon set their sights, as special agents of providence or the state, on such places as Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Philippines, and more recently, Vietnam and Iraq.

Agent of Empire is a timely exploration of American imperialism and its troubling components of hypermasculinity, racism, and ambition. Harrison shows how literature helps us gauge the ever-shifting desires, fantasies, arguments, and ideologies that continue to underwrite our imperial ventures, private and public. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Filibuster and Freebooter
In Agent of Empire Harrison introduces us to William Walker, an imperialist who's successes and failures eventually lead to his rise as the dictator of Nicaragua. From his ascendancy to his execution Harrison explores what has made Walker such an interesting case study in the complex history of American imperialism. Harrison does an excellent job of exploring the many stories directly and loosely based upon the exploits and personal character of William Walker. Through poetry, novels, movies, fiction and non-fiction Harrison weaves his way through all of it helping us to understand the times and prevailing philosophies that helped create a man like Walker. This book is well researched and the writing is inviting and thought provoking.

A Reasonably Effective Study of an Underappreciated Subject
Brady Harrison's AGENT OF EMPIRE is an interesting and sorely needed approach to the underappreciated subject of William Walker, "the Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny," the Nashville-born doctor/lawyer/journalist who became president of Nicaragua in 1855.Harrison examines the role of Walker--and more commonly, the archetype of the American Imperialist-Adventurer, which Walker symoblizes--in popular culture.Harrison's thesis is that the Walker character is an important reflection of various ideas of the American "hero" and how the icon has developed into what might properly be called the American "antagonist."On the plus side, nobody has ever quite written something along these lines before; as a professor of English and History with a special emphasis in popular culture, film, and interdisciplinary studies--not to mention a Walker expert myself--I am very pleased to see a recent study of Walker and one that takes the unusual approach of contextualizing the filibuster as a cultural force.Harrison's writing style is strong, and his interpretations of texts convincing.He has even dug up some stories and books that I either didn't know about or knew the titles and nothing else; for that accomplishment alone, Harrison deserves a tip of the hat.On the downside, the subject itself is so specialized that few people outside a few scholars are destined to read AGENT OF EMPIRE.Perhaps this is not unusual for an academic tome, but it is significant that Harrison accurately observes the way the Walker icon endures cycles of discovery and obscurity, thereby not remaining a constant warning--or inspiration--to American tendencies towards interventionism, imperialism, and international hegemony.A bit more discussion of Walker's life would help make the book slightly more useful to general readers.More problematical is the omission of certain key texts; Harrison goes into great detail in his coverage of Richard Harding Davis' Walker-inspired works, but there needs to be more discussion of Alfred Neuman's STRANGE CONQUEST and Robert Houston's THE NATION THIEF, important novels about Walker.Of Alfred Leland Crabb's DINNER AT BELMONT (1942) there is no mention, nor of a recent "alternative history" novel, the name and author of which escape me at the moment, two works that feature Walker as a prominent character.Even more curious is the total omission of the 1972 film BURN!, in which Marlon Brando plays Sir William Walker, a British imperialist in the Caribbean.While it is true that BURN changes so much around that it is only nominally related to the real Walker, this same charge could be made against some of the stories Harrison does discuss.Initially I theorized that Harrison had never heard of BURN!, but I don't see how that could be; in a footnote he mentions Leonard Maltin's TV MOVIES dismissive review of the movie WALKER (1987), an entry that references BURN!Maybe Harrison was unable to secure a copy of the movie, but it has been released on video (out of print now, alas) and is the subject of sufficient critical attention (Danny Peary's CULT MOVIES, to name one) to warrant at least a cursory mention.

Be that as it may, Harrison has taken an important early step.I hope he will revise and republish his study one of these days and help finally establish William Walker as one of the key figures in US history. ... Read more

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journey into the tragic consequences of US policy ... Read more

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The thirteen original essays in this collection evaluate the role of elections in the development of democracy in the nations of Central America: Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama. Exploring the region's transformation over the last fifteen years from dictatorial to electoral rule, this volume of new essays is a major expansion and reworking of Elections and Democracy in Central America, published by the UNC Press in 1989.

The essays reevaluate the status of democratization in each country over the last six years, including the transition to civilian rule in Panama. In addition to the country-by-country analysis, the book includes topical chapters on comparative voting behavior, the impact of outside election observers, and the roles of foreign actors and elites in the election process. Although the contributors express skepticism about the prospects for some countries to consolidate democracy, they are, on the whole, optimistic about Central America's democratic future. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Sandinista
Having lived trought the early years of the revolution in Nicaragua, althouhg just a child I got a first hand view of some of the struggles and dangers of the revolution.Because I was only a child I was not able to fully grasp the grand scheme of things and now as an adult I decided to begin reading about the revolution in Nicaragua and stubled upon this book.

The book gives a clear, no nonsense account of Carlos Fonseca.Who he was, how he was raised and what he stood for over the course of his life.A clear chronological order of events into his life is presented as well asthe struggles the young rag tag band of rebels went trought.

If want to read an unbiased account into therevolution in Nicaragua and the role Carlos Fonseca played as leader of the FSLN then read this book.For me it shed light on some of the missing pieces about the revolution, the struggle and the ultimate outcome of the FSLN after the death of Fonseca.

Good reading.

Great Job Matilde Zimmermann
This is the first book I read about Carlos Fonseca that has more accurate information about him, than any other book I have read.
I know this because I am the son of Raul Fonseca, but grew up with Carlos example and support. Carlos was the only father figure I ever had.

Quite a task Ms. Zimmermann. Congratulations.

I just read a few pages, but when I finish I will write a more complete review.

God bless you!

Just tell me what happened, I'll form my own opinion
This book pulls off a difficult feat, providing a balanced, neutral account of a subject about which supporters and opponents usually speak in strident, propagandistic terms.

Because of the absence of any preachy rhetoric, and the reliance on first-hand interviews and actual source documents, the author delivers a compelling portrait of a leader whose faithfulness to pure idealism in a struggle against a seemingly unstoppable evil system can be compared to that of Churchill, Gandhi, and King.

The Sandinistas were not the only group that took to the hills to arouse the populace in Latin America after the successful Cuban revolution, but they were the only group which actually came to power.Dr. Zimmermann's book is the story of the man who was the driving force behind the ideas, organization, strategy and success of their revolution.

She does not flinch from criticizing the Sandinistas for their initial ill-informed and patronizing attitudes toward the indigineous peoples of their country, nor for their slow acceptance of their female compatriots, nor for their many tactical errors and blunders.

Instead, this telling of the story of Fonseca and the Sanidnistas allows the reader to sense the very human feelings which became the basis of their appeal and allowed their success, even after Fonseca's death. ... Read more

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This is a reprint of the 1985 Duke University Pressedition of The Sandino Affair, the classic account of the struggle ofnative General Augusto C. Sandino against the United States MarineCorps in the mountains and jungles of Nicaragua from 1927 to 1933.Aproud Hispanic and a master of guerrilla tactics, Sandino was thespiritual father of a generation of Latin American revolutionarywarriors, including Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and the Sandinistas ofcontemporary Nicaragua. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great history of a lesser known war
Sandino's insurgency in Nicaragua during the 1930's had debate teams in American high schools asking the question why the US Marine Corps was indeed involved in Central America.Decades later, debate teams would be asking why US Marines and other elements of the Armed Forces were about to intervene in a war in Iraq...
MacAulay has obviously done his homework in this suburb book.He details Sandino's rise and history, from his travels to Mexico and meetings with various Bolsheviks, to his ultimate betrayal by Somoza.MacAulay also shows how Sandino and his men peservered in a jungle enviornment, cut off without roads or running water, and how the first aerial attack was executed in the Americas.
MacAulay does not demonize the Marines, as lesser writers and ideologues would love to.Indeed, he even pays tribute to that greatest of all Marines, Lewis "Chesty" Puller, and his company of Marines and Nicaraguans who fought the Sandinistas on their own terms...and won.
It is a pity that this book is out of print.Generations of historians and military history buffs will not be disappointed in this breathtaking history of the Nicaraguas.

Sandino, Nicaragua's Nationalist Guerrilla
Outstanding book. Excellent historical account of General Sandino and the genesis of the nationalist struggle in Nicaragua. A little vague on the extent of American commercial interest the US Marines were sent to protect.This book should be read by anyone looking to understand guerrilla warfare.Espcially useful in paralleling combat tactics used by the viet-cong or anynationalist insurgency. Should be required reading for all troopers headedto advise against the FARC and ELN.

Sandino, Nicaragua's Nationalist Guerrilla
Outstanding book. Excellent historical account of General Sandino and the genesis of the nationalist struggle in Nicaragua. A little vague on the extent of American commercial interest the US Marines were sent to protect.This book should be read by anyone looking to understand guerrilla warfare.Espcially useful in paralleling combat tactics used by the viet-cong or anynationalist insurgency. Should be required reading for all troopers headedto advise against the FARC and ELN.

The best and most complete work ever written on this subject
I understand this book was Maculay's doctoral thesis, and I think exceedsthe purpose. Written with such a fine style the reader is situated in thejungles of Nicaragua experiencing guerilla warfare at its best.It is awell documented work. In addition to reviewing previous titles on thesubject, Macaulay did extensive research on Marine Corps archives toproduce an unbiased and scientific study of the struggle. Also, theportrait of the character is highly accurate of this little man ( only5'-4") born as illegitimate son in a nicaraguan village, yet hisnationalism and valor had monumental influence throughout generations oflatin-americans. As of today his presence is still vivid and controversial. ... Read more