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December 2022 Vol. 60 No. 4

Lee, who earned his PhD in US and Latin American history from Temple University, examines the American role in Nicaragua from the 1960s through the end of the Cold War. An epilogue surveys recent events. By the 1960s, the US had a long record of involvement in Nicaragua, involving support for the Somoza family dictatorship. That relationship changed after the 1972 earthquake, which destroyed the capital city, Managua. President Anastasio Somoza developed a plan to rebuild Managua that would also enrich himself, but it failed, creating urban blight in decentralized areas for the poor. It also triggered an anti-Somoza alliance between the left (the Sandinistas) and conservative elites, which toppled Somoza in a 1979 revolution. The coalition fractured, leading to the Contra war, with the US backing anti-Sandinista conservatives. The years following the revolution were a period of instability, which Lee characterizes as "institutionalized precarity." He elicits comments on developments from Nicaraguan intellectuals, political leaders, and activists, reviewing themes such as sustainable development, racial politics (especially regarding the Miskito Indians), and international alliance building. He focuses on internal Nicaraguan affairs, contextualizing American involvement without letting the US dominate his convincing analysis.

--A. J. Dunar, emeritus, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and advanced undergraduates through faculty.