Struggling for Survival: Workers, Women, and Class on a Nicaraguan State Farm by Gary Ruchwarger. Westview Press, 1989, 128 pp., $19.95 (paper). This case study of a state-owned to- bacco and vegetable farm examines the extent to which the transformation of productive relations have altered rela- tions of class and gender. Ruchwarger points to the elimination of the old owners’ class and the emergence of new “classes” of managers and techni- cians, and finds that important advances in women’s struggles have yet to achieve emancipation for the women of the countryside. Nicaragua’s Other Revolution: Reli- gious Faith and Political Struggle by Michael Dodson and Laura Nuzzi O’Shaughnessy. U. of North Carolina Press, 1990, 279 pp., $39.95 (cloth), $12.95 (paper). This book offers a broadly painted picture of the religious sources of the Nicaraguan Revolution. The authors set their subject in the context of the vast changes the Latin American Church has undergone over the past 30 years, and contrast it to the religious roots of political, particularly revolutionary, thought in the United States and Eng- land. Life Stories of the Nicaraguan Revo- lution by Denis Lynn and Daly Heyck. Routledge, 1990, 355 pp., $45 (cloth), $14.95 (paper). Though they may err on accuracy of detail, oral histories add dimensions no scholarly study can convey. These 24 brief oral autobiographies include a broad range of important personages such as Violeta Chamorro, religious leaders and several comandantes, as well as workers, peasants and even Daniel Ortega’s mother, who professes faith in both the Virgin and the Revolu- tion. Inside The Volcano: A Curriculum on Nicaragua ed. by William Bigelow and Jeff Edmundson. Network of Edu- cators’ Committees on Central Amer- ica, 1990, 130 pp., $15.00 (paper). You are a Nicaraguan in 1977 with neither land nor enough food. The seven members of your family share a single- room shack with no electricity, indoor plumbing or clean drinking water, yet Somoza boasts that Nicaragua has no housing problem because of its beauti- ful climate. So begins one of 14 lesson plans geared to high school students and designed to redress widespread diseducation about the Sandinista Revo- lution. Partidos politicos y la blisqueda de un nuevo modelo by Oscar-Ren6 Var- gas. 1990, 203 pp. (paper), available from the author at Aptdo A-300, Man- agua, Nicaragua. In this book-length essay, independ- ent Left analyst Vargas, traces the his- tory of presidential elections in Nicara- gua and the evolution of the 21 political parties active today. He argues that a new political system will emerge from the 1990 elections, based on consensus among the country’s diverse forces. Goodbyes and Stories by Juan Carlos Onetti. U. of Texas Press, 1990, 174 pp., $22.50 (cloth), $10.95 (paper). This haunting collection affirms the literary status of this Uruguayan as a twentieth century master, who does for the rural Southern Cone what Faulkner did for the U.S. South. By placing the psyche of his mostly male characters precariously between ego and id, On- etti illuminates a dark misogynist world of violence and irony. Avalovara by Osman Lins. U. of Texas Press, 1990, 331 pp., $12.95 (paper). Only a Romance-language writer and possibly only the Brazilian Osman Lins could make graphic eroticism come off symbolically as a mystical quest of uncorrupted innocence. Lin’s married hero, Abel, pursues three other women across two continents. One is a her- maphrodite, another is namelessly rep- resented by a circle with a hole in the middle. But the prurient beware: This is serious literature. Haiti, State Against Nation: The Ori- gins & Legacy of Duvalierism by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Monthly Re- view Press, 1990, 282 pp., $28 (cloth), $12 (paper). While most present day accounts of Haiti stress the sad, but inevitable po- litical “irrationality” of endless dicta- torship, Trouillot’s scholarly survey examines the legacy of the only suc- cessful slave revolution in modem his- tory, and finds the roots and continuing strength of Duvalierism in the struc- tures of Haitian society. Includes fasci- nating sections on culture, race, and the lasting impact of U.S. intervention (occupation 1915-1934, off-shore manufacturing 1970-1990). Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobi- ology of the Haitian Zombie by Wade Davis. U. of North Carolina Press, 1988, 344 pp. $29.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper). Prior to Davis’ meticulous research, zombies were seen as little more than a symptom of Haitian peasants’ notori- ous instinct for the phantasmagoric. He analyzes the potions used to induce a prolonged psychotic state, and clearly establishes zombification as a form of social sanction imposed by the clan- destine Bizango societies, which Davis argues convincingly were critical in the meteoric rise of the Tontons Macoutes and the Duvalier regime. Is Latin America Turning Protes- tant? by David Stoll. U. of California Press, 1990, 424 pp., $24.95 (cloth). At last count 10% of the continent had left the Catholic fold. Stoll exam- ines the socio-religious causes, but the book’s real strength lies in its presenta- tion of the variegated movers and shak- ers behind this modem reformation. While Washington’s intimate relation- ship with the religious Right has lent itself to a host of conspiracy theories, Stoll concludes that the movement is better understood as a reflection of broader cultural, social and political transformations which are sweeping the continent. Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America by David Martin. Basil Blackwell, 1990, 352 pps. $39.95 (cloth). While Protestant forays into Latin America-first by the Puritans followed by the Methodists-are not new, the phenomenal success of the Pentecostal movement certainly is. Martin provides a detailed examination of the countries and communities most receptive to Pentecostalism, the concomitant rea- sons for the decline of the Catholic Church, and the implications of this ever-expanding movement for the po- litico-religious hierarchy.
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