Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle

by Thomas W. Walker

This new and thoroughly revised edition of Nicaragua details the country’s unique history, culture, social reality, economics, foreign relations, and politics. Its historical coverage considers Nicaragua from before independence as well as during the nationalist liberal era, the US marine occupation, the Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinista regime, and the conservative restoration following 1990. The Fourth Edition documents how the more enduring reality of this Central American country may not be the Sandinista Revolution but the historical and ongoing interventions by which the United States — the “eagle” to the north — continues to shape Nicaraguan political, economic, and social life. The new edition also includes a fully updated annotated bibliography.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, United States

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2003

Reviews

[Amid عميد · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed examination of Nicaragua’s complex and often turbulent relationship with the United States. While the book is rich in historical context and provides a thorough overview of U.S. influence on Nicaragua's political and economic development, it suffers somewhat from a disorganized presentation. The analysis sometimes feels repetitive, covering similar events from slightly different angles without adding new insights. This structure may bore some readers who prefer a more streamlined historical account.

[Amanda]

You can not refer to someone as "Washington's favorite bugaboo" and remain unbiased.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I great bias towards the U.S. policy in Nicaragua. It was heavy in numerical evidence about the economic impact that U.S. created, especially during the 80s conflict.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

From http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2011/...

I like Thomas Walker and Christine Wade's Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle, 5th Edition (2011). It is clearly sympathetic to the revolution, but takes pains to remain even handed. That means having no illusions, for example, about the political direction Daniel Ortega has been taking while also praising successful policies he implemented in the 1980s. I highly recommend it as an excellent political history. I would be tempted to use it in a class, but I don't tend to go that far in depth in a country study to merit an entire book.

The first half of the book is historical chronology, and the second half is separated by different issues: economic, cultural, political, and international. Nicaragua has a fascinating history, and the writing is very good. Who can resist sentences like the following?

On September 20, a young poet named Rigoberto López Pérez infiltrated a reception honoring the dictator and pumped five bullets point-blank into Somoza's corpulent hulk (p. 28).

My only complaint, and a relatively minor one, is that the facts can really stand for themselves in Nicaragua so there were far too many uses of the words "alleged" and "apparently," usually referring to some nefarious connection to the United States. But there were so many such nefarious connections that including rumors weakens the overall argument.

I agree with their assessment of Ortega: "The Ortega government was both openly defiant and curiously submissive to the demands of its old enemy" (p. 213). The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the face of Venezuela's imminent economic collapse, I have heard from several sources that "socialism has never failed because it has never been tried." This purist model suggests that every attempt at socialism failed because of external sources or unscrupulous wolves in sheep clothing, leaders purporting to promoting socialism but only using the title for personal aggrandizement. If only a country could free itself of meddling foreign intervention and wicked opportunists, it would have the chance to truly demonstrate the socialist utopia that is possible when all labor works together for the common good.

This book attempts to depict a similar historical arc for Nicaragua, and in so doing, fails spectacularly. Loose on facts, grandiloquent when convenient, and silent when confronted with awkward facts, this is cherrypicked history at its worst. The authors never explain or contextualize their bias but rather simply speak of "dependent capitalist systems," "neopopulists," and "Washington's favorite bugaboo." This kind of history is unconscionable to me. I welcome competing ideological frameworks and appreciate new perspectives on well-known history. But purporting to depict the history of Nicaragua as the story of external oppression and dependency theory while denying, diminishing, and distorting any competing theories or evidence is nothing more than crass propaganda.

Read more at http://znovels.blogspot.com/2018/01/n...

[Max Dreyfus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicaragua me encanta: su gente hospitalaria y alegre, su paisaje y cultura. Si existe un país donde viviría si tuviera que dejar el mío, ese es Nicaragua.
Durante mi niñez tuve oportunidad de conocer a varios nicaragüenses que huían de la guerra en su país y todos hablaban entusiasmados sobre la Victoria sandinista y la posibilidad de participar en la Jornada de Alfabetización, que parece ser un momento que unió a toda la sociedad nicaragüense.
Lo más interesante del libro es que de forma ordenada y sucinta cuenta la historia de Nicaragua con argumentos sólidos.
Describe con precisión la forma de ser, hablar y celebrar que tienen los nicaragüenses.
Insiste mucho en los siguientes argumentos:
-La revolución fue desmontada después de la llegada al poder de doña Violeta, los logros sociales conseguidos durante la Revolución fueron perdidos.
-Daniel y Arnoldo crearon el pacto que al final destruyó la débil institucionalidad.
-Daniel secuestró al FSLN y ahora es su vehículo para perpetuarse en el poder.
Comenta sobre el asesinato de Ben Linder - Ingeniero mecánico que supervisaba la instalación de una planta hidroeléctrica que fue asesinado por la Contra - Evento que inspiró a Sting a componer la bella canción Fragile.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

does the seemingly impossible by presenting centuries of nicaraguan history in a very compact, readable, and politically aware format. an excellent introduction. (I give it 4 instead of 5 stars only because sometimes walker and co seem completely unable to offer Any critique of the fsln or ortega without immediately explaining it away.)

[Deanna Risser · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the required text for the Nicaragua SST unit I will be leading this summer. Pretty heavy reading but interesting and a good description of how the US has been involved in Nica politics for a long time.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informational and quite interesting, especially if you are into history and looking for a view other than regular textbooks

[Helen Perks · Rating 3 out of 5]

good, but perhaps a little superficial and Sandanista biased?