Shadows of Tender Fury

by Subcomandante Marcos, Frank Bardacke (Translator), Leslie Lopez (Translator)

UNCORRECTED Shadows of Tender Fury, the Letters and Communiques of Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, introduction by John Ross, afterward by Frank Bardacke. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1995.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Essays, Activism

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Subcomandante Marcos (date of birth unknown) is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas in protest of the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous peoples.

Marcos is an author, political poet, adroit humorist, and outspoken opponent of capitalism. Marcos has advocated having the Mexican constitution amended to recognize the rights of the country's indigenous inhabitants] The internationally known guerrillero has been described as a "new" and "postmodern" Che Guevara. He is only seen wearing a balaclava, and his true identity remains unknown.

Reviews

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good place to begin if your interested in learning about zapatismo and the EZLN (ejercito zapatista de liberacion nacional). Marcos' writing is beautifully lyrical and incredibly inspiring. This book changed my life.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cool thing about having all the communiques for this time period in one book is that you get a sense of how the rebellion unfolded in real-time, how many strings the EZLN had to pull together to win national and international support for their cause. A drawback is that, given the precarious nature of their communications, the EZLN often had to reiterate the same message for various audiences, with the assumption that this would be the first/only time that the recipient might hear it, which makes for redundancies that can feel tedious to the reader. As someone largely unaware of the Zapatista struggle when it happened, I found this book very edifying regarding the appeal of the shrewd propagandist/poet known as Sup Marcos.

[Joebaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh shit! This is such a good collection of writings! I read it for class in 2006, then recently reread the whole thing just looking for a good quote to insert into a thank you letter. Especially for anyone who's ever tried to write press releases before, check out this book to learn a few tips.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... Subcomandante Marcos!

[Alejandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shadows of Tender Fury, the title alone is enough to recommend this book. Marcos is so passionate and poetic, it makes me want to leave this life behind and run away to the Chiapan jungle and join in the EZLN's plight...

[Graham Cifelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary Reading, passionate, uncompromising, self deprecating, funny, and most of all hopefull

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to four.
One must always remember that Marcos has an agenda for writing these letters, however, that does not take away from the importance of the issues he is writing about-- issues that the US often likes to pretend don't exist. The letter themselves are interesting, sometimes humorous, sometimes very serious, but I think they are best read in sections. I think trying to read the book cover to cover in a few sittings would make it a bit monotone and take away from it.

[Gina Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

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