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Witness to War: An American Doctor in El Salvador
An American doctor describes his experiences helping the sick and wounded in a rebel-held area of El Salvador and shares his impressions of the bitter civil war there
268 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 15, 2017
Caring for Cuzcatlán
People often say that Costa Rica is the most advanced Central American country because it didn't have many Indians. Hearing this, you may think that Indians somehow prevent democracy or `progress'. Actually, the saying is true, but in a totally different sense. Costa Ricans, unlike their Central American neighbors to the north, didn't have masses of Indians to use as labor, so they didn't develop a small, rich class of vulture-like oligarchs that lived on the backs of those Indians. El Salvador, on the contrary, typifies a country where a tiny group of families dominated everything, oppressing the peasants and landless laborers endlessly. Though Communists eventually got involved, there was no doubt that a revolution was on the cards. It came. And predictably, the USA supported the oligarchs, giving them guns, bombs, training courses and advisors. We were not new at the game. Only a few years before we'd been fighting in Vietnam, supporting another elite. Charles Clements, author of this poignant memoir, served as a pilot in that war, gotten sick of the killing and the waste, the brutalization of participants, and the lies. He managed to get out of the air force, go back to school to become a doctor and embraced Quakerism at the same time. This book is the story of how he did that, but also about what he did next.
Clements volunteered to be a doctor among the people in the guerrilla-controlled zones of El Salvador, people who lived hungry, afraid, and sick, but who had their principles and their dream of a better country. His position was ambiguous since Americans both sent medical supplies to the guerrillas and supported the army, who tortured and mutilated every suspect they caught. Different Americans obviously. Some of the guerrillas welcomed him, others did not trust him. He refused to fight, but cared for all the men, women and children who lived in the liberated zone. His Spanish was poor at first, he had American ideas about how things should be done, and food was scarce. He suffered many medical problems due to conditions but he persevered for a year on the Guazapa Front, a small zone around a volcano not far from El Salvador's capital. He writes of conditions, of tactics, of politics, and of life in such an area. He stayed for a year in 1982-83, then went back to the US where he traveled around speaking about the war and his experiences. El Salvador's civil war continued until 1992, when the guerrilla parties were accepted into the government and fighting finally ended. Perhaps today this is "just history in a small, unimportant country", but if you are interested in American foreign policy, in Central American conditions, and the life of a very brave man, you should read this book even now. Do you think the leopard has changed its spots ?
People often say that Costa Rica is the most advanced Central American country because it didn't have many Indians. Hearing this, you may think that Indians somehow prevent democracy or `progress'. Actually, the saying is true, but in a totally different sense. Costa Ricans, unlike their Central American neighbors to the north, didn't have masses of Indians to use as labor, so they didn't develop a small, rich class of vulture-like oligarchs that lived on the backs of those Indians. El Salvador, on the contrary, typifies a country where a tiny group of families dominated everything, oppressing the peasants and landless laborers endlessly. Though Communists eventually got involved, there was no doubt that a revolution was on the cards. It came. And predictably, the USA supported the oligarchs, giving them guns, bombs, training courses and advisors. We were not new at the game. Only a few years before we'd been fighting in Vietnam, supporting another elite. Charles Clements, author of this poignant memoir, served as a pilot in that war, gotten sick of the killing and the waste, the brutalization of participants, and the lies. He managed to get out of the air force, go back to school to become a doctor and embraced Quakerism at the same time. This book is the story of how he did that, but also about what he did next.
Clements volunteered to be a doctor among the people in the guerrilla-controlled zones of El Salvador, people who lived hungry, afraid, and sick, but who had their principles and their dream of a better country. His position was ambiguous since Americans both sent medical supplies to the guerrillas and supported the army, who tortured and mutilated every suspect they caught. Different Americans obviously. Some of the guerrillas welcomed him, others did not trust him. He refused to fight, but cared for all the men, women and children who lived in the liberated zone. His Spanish was poor at first, he had American ideas about how things should be done, and food was scarce. He suffered many medical problems due to conditions but he persevered for a year on the Guazapa Front, a small zone around a volcano not far from El Salvador's capital. He writes of conditions, of tactics, of politics, and of life in such an area. He stayed for a year in 1982-83, then went back to the US where he traveled around speaking about the war and his experiences. El Salvador's civil war continued until 1992, when the guerrilla parties were accepted into the government and fighting finally ended. Perhaps today this is "just history in a small, unimportant country", but if you are interested in American foreign policy, in Central American conditions, and the life of a very brave man, you should read this book even now. Do you think the leopard has changed its spots ?
January 9, 2014
"WE DIDN'T KNOW WE WERE THE ENEMY" (BOMBED SALVADORIAN PEASANT)
Charles Clements an American Quaker, former American Air Force pilot (he flew transports in Vietnam) and fully trained medical Doctor makes the long journey to El Salvador in 1983. This book documents his experience as be becomes Doctor for a community of several thousand indigenous Salvadorians in the Guazapa area 25 miles north of San Salvador. He lives within that community for a year, treating both civilians and guerrillas in the most heart rending conditions without access to modern equipment and medicine in anything like the quantity required.
Clements isn't an instantly sympathetic character, initially his Quaker pacifism causes problems in part because nobody thought to tell the El Salvadorian community he is living with about them, including oddly Clements himself. One learns to live, as with so many people in life, with Clements odditys and by about a third of the way through I was completely hooked on the compelling story he tells. The guerrillas political beliefs are a mixture of Catholicism and Marxism, the picture Clements paints is of communities with an incredible amount of solidarity along with democratic and egalitarian instincts that are truly remarkable. The story is told in an open and honest way, there is no attempt to romanticise the guerillas though it is evident who has Clements sympathy. In the grimmest conditions imaginable they attempt with some success to maintain their access to land and their way of life in the face of a vicious and murderous oligarchy funded and supported by the Regan administration of that time.
I totally recommend this book, its a remarkable testimony to a marginalized community resisting their own destruction. You will not have read anything quite like it. I initially came across it when consulting a footnote in Noam Chomsky's "Turning the Tide: Us Intervention in Central America" which is valuable for putting the events of this book into a regional context. Greg Grandins excellent "Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism" also covers the area in the 1980's as well as linking the figures involved and the policies pursued to the post 9/11 actions of the American Government.
Charles Clements an American Quaker, former American Air Force pilot (he flew transports in Vietnam) and fully trained medical Doctor makes the long journey to El Salvador in 1983. This book documents his experience as be becomes Doctor for a community of several thousand indigenous Salvadorians in the Guazapa area 25 miles north of San Salvador. He lives within that community for a year, treating both civilians and guerrillas in the most heart rending conditions without access to modern equipment and medicine in anything like the quantity required.
Clements isn't an instantly sympathetic character, initially his Quaker pacifism causes problems in part because nobody thought to tell the El Salvadorian community he is living with about them, including oddly Clements himself. One learns to live, as with so many people in life, with Clements odditys and by about a third of the way through I was completely hooked on the compelling story he tells. The guerrillas political beliefs are a mixture of Catholicism and Marxism, the picture Clements paints is of communities with an incredible amount of solidarity along with democratic and egalitarian instincts that are truly remarkable. The story is told in an open and honest way, there is no attempt to romanticise the guerillas though it is evident who has Clements sympathy. In the grimmest conditions imaginable they attempt with some success to maintain their access to land and their way of life in the face of a vicious and murderous oligarchy funded and supported by the Regan administration of that time.
I totally recommend this book, its a remarkable testimony to a marginalized community resisting their own destruction. You will not have read anything quite like it. I initially came across it when consulting a footnote in Noam Chomsky's "Turning the Tide: Us Intervention in Central America" which is valuable for putting the events of this book into a regional context. Greg Grandins excellent "Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism" also covers the area in the 1980's as well as linking the figures involved and the policies pursued to the post 9/11 actions of the American Government.
May 28, 2011
Really powerful and sad book about the civil war in El Salvador early 80's as witnessed by American volunteer doctor. It's not super well-written, but I kind of appreciated that b/c it made it very authentic. The purpose is to inform and show things as they were-- not win any literary prizes. Makes you very frustrated with the US foreign policy....
January 1, 2024
I got the opportunity to speak to Charlie Clements recently. Very rewarding read and very rewarding conversation with a kind and thoughtful man. Highly recommend this book.
February 7, 2017
"Witness to War: An American Doctor in El Salvador" by Dr. Charles Clements is part memoir, part ethnography, part history text, part war memorial. This book is a triumph, one I recommend EVERYONE read.
"Witness to War" is a difficult book to absorb. The challenging content includes the subject matter of the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980s (complete with many anecdotes of atrocities), the author's adherence to Quaker principles of pacifism in the face of government brutality, and the involvement of the United States government in funding the death squads of El Salvador -- as well as the United States funding of the relentless state-sanctioned massacres of civilians by the army of El Salvador -- make this one of the most painful books I've ever set out to finish. In addition to the difficult content, "Witness to War" wasn't penned to be a literary work. The prose is straightforward, and the story doesn't use suspense as a plot device. Facts are told in a straightforward manner, details are delivered bluntly, and the result is a raw honesty on the page that is astonishing as well as heartbreaking.
I really love this book. I felt like I took an entire class on the history of El Salvador by reading "Witness to War." The author took so many risks, and sacrificed so much of his personal life, in order to live among the guerrillas of El Salvador for an entire year, caring for the medical needs of civilians (and sometimes, the soldiers -- both the guerrillas and the army POWs captured by the guerrillas) who were injured and killed during this conflict.
"Witness to War" is an amazing achievement. I'm so glad that Dr. Charles Clements journeyed to El Salvador on a personal humanitarian mission, wrote this book, and shared this story with the world. It's a brutally important book to read, full of truths about imperialism, injustice, and resistance, as well as the specific civil war in El Salvador.
"Witness to War" had so much to teach me. I express my profound gratitude for the opportunity to read this great book. Thank you, Dr. Clements, for this truly significant memoir. "Witness to War" is a heartbreaking treasure, a beautiful testament to the goodness and perseverance of the people of El Salvador. I deeply appreciate getting to know this country and its people much better.
"Witness to War" is a difficult book to absorb. The challenging content includes the subject matter of the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980s (complete with many anecdotes of atrocities), the author's adherence to Quaker principles of pacifism in the face of government brutality, and the involvement of the United States government in funding the death squads of El Salvador -- as well as the United States funding of the relentless state-sanctioned massacres of civilians by the army of El Salvador -- make this one of the most painful books I've ever set out to finish. In addition to the difficult content, "Witness to War" wasn't penned to be a literary work. The prose is straightforward, and the story doesn't use suspense as a plot device. Facts are told in a straightforward manner, details are delivered bluntly, and the result is a raw honesty on the page that is astonishing as well as heartbreaking.
I really love this book. I felt like I took an entire class on the history of El Salvador by reading "Witness to War." The author took so many risks, and sacrificed so much of his personal life, in order to live among the guerrillas of El Salvador for an entire year, caring for the medical needs of civilians (and sometimes, the soldiers -- both the guerrillas and the army POWs captured by the guerrillas) who were injured and killed during this conflict.
"Witness to War" is an amazing achievement. I'm so glad that Dr. Charles Clements journeyed to El Salvador on a personal humanitarian mission, wrote this book, and shared this story with the world. It's a brutally important book to read, full of truths about imperialism, injustice, and resistance, as well as the specific civil war in El Salvador.
"Witness to War" had so much to teach me. I express my profound gratitude for the opportunity to read this great book. Thank you, Dr. Clements, for this truly significant memoir. "Witness to War" is a heartbreaking treasure, a beautiful testament to the goodness and perseverance of the people of El Salvador. I deeply appreciate getting to know this country and its people much better.
January 21, 2011
I believe that it was a Studs Terkel radio interview with Dr. Clements which raised the antennae about this memoir of his time medically serving the people injured by the U.S.-backed civil war (1979-92) in El Salvador. While not terribly well written, Clements being no professional author, the pathos of his account carries the book.
Throughout the Reagan administration the United States conducted covert warfare against popular governments and uprisings in Central America, including El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. My outrage about all of this got me active in politics again after a virtual hiatus which had lasted through the last two years of college and all four years of seminary. Naturally, this led to obtaining lots of books about these countries, the conflicts within them (or imposed upon them), and U.S. involvement in their affairs.
This book is not an overview of the war in El Salvador, but no knowledge of the nation's history is required to follow Clements' up close and personal account of his service there.
Throughout the Reagan administration the United States conducted covert warfare against popular governments and uprisings in Central America, including El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. My outrage about all of this got me active in politics again after a virtual hiatus which had lasted through the last two years of college and all four years of seminary. Naturally, this led to obtaining lots of books about these countries, the conflicts within them (or imposed upon them), and U.S. involvement in their affairs.
This book is not an overview of the war in El Salvador, but no knowledge of the nation's history is required to follow Clements' up close and personal account of his service there.
January 12, 2008
Excellent memoir of a selfless American doctor living in the bush with the Salvadoran rebels as they fought the US backed military regime in the 80's.
July 23, 2024
A gut wrenching but important book that many more should read. Primarily dealing with the mundane but crucially important details of health care for the rebels in the Salvadorian civil war, the griping accounts of the terrible conditions but hope of the people gives immense power. Contrasted with the incompetence, yet unyielding violence of the perpetrators in the army, funded by the Reagan administration, the sympathy and anger are palpatable in the book. Well written, even if a little biased, with great description of what shaped the author's thoughts.
December 10, 2020
A moving, harrowing memoir of a pacifist doctor’s experience in El Salvador during the civil war of the 80’s, a war in which the country’s government turned on its own citizens in the name of fighting communism. I knew nothing of this part of El Salvadoran’s history when I picked this up but still found it a highly engrossing read.
January 29, 2019
A personal narrative a doctor that goes into war torn El Salvador and risks his own life to bring greatly needed medical car to population that was deprived from more than the basic care. This book lays out the insanity of violent conflict to resolve political differences.
September 1, 2009
The best account I have read about the civil war in El Salvador, from the viewpoint of a pacifist.
July 9, 2012
Read this many years ago. I can't remember the style, but I appreciated learning more about El Salvador.
June 30, 2023
Written by good friend. Charlie Clements. We worked together on a number of projects. He opened my eyes to so many things. So helpful, kind to Joe.
May 4, 2018
Incredibly important book detailing how America favors private wealth over the democratic will of the people -in this case -very personal and engaging stories from Dr. Clements courageous service to the people of El Salvador during their civil war. This should be required reading as part of U.S. history so future generations learn from the horrific mistakes of the Reagan administration (and others) that embraced brutal regimes -because it was economically and politically expedient to do so.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews