By the former New York Times Managua bureau chief, this is a well-written, information-rich survey of modern Nicaragua. Kinzer describes how Cesar Sandino’s. Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua is a book by Stephen Kinzer, an American author and New York Times foreign correspondent who reported. Blood of Brothers by Stephen Kinzer, , available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide.

Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua by Stephen Kinzer

I could only wish for something as good to cover the last 20 years, as this book ends brotthers coverage in the mid’s, bloov a nice afterward that briefly sums up the 10 years after that point specifically written for this re-release version that I purchased.

As always, the poor country folk and young people were the ones who ultimately paid the price. I could not recommend this book highly enough for those seeking to understand a little more about Nicaraguan history.

It is the most comprehensive telling of the Nicaraguan history that I’ve found, a history which is so permeated by politics that to attempt to learn about it without the story of their politicians and their wars is simply to miss the entire point of it.

Life and War in Nicaragua. Nicaraguans buried a whole generation of their young fighting to first remove the Somoza dictatorship from power and then a second civil war between the Sandinistas and the Con Stephen Kinzer writes an engaging although sad and depressing narrative about Nicaragua during the U. Kinzer automatically rushed to my list of must-read authors after the first chaper - if he wr I am going to back up the platonic life mate on this one with the five star rating.

There were atrocities on both sides. The most challenging landmarks of all to locate were those that no longer existed. Jul 24, Andrew rated it it was amazing. Kinzer became the first journalist to expose this connection, when in March he and a photographer tracked down a Contra camp near the Nicaraguan border of Honduras and were even able to see US-supplied weaponry.

The blood and guts of the story literally and figuratively can be found elsewhere, in books like Leslie Cockburn’s “Out of Control: His articles and books have led the Washington Post to place him “among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling.

There are a number of quite dramatic passages, as when he first discovers the US-Funded Contras over the border in Honduras, something the US government gad been denying at length in the media. The perspective of the author as a newspaper correspondent first for the Boston Globe and then for the NY Times from toyou get not only a picture of what the unfolding of events in Nicaragua during those crucial years, but also a sense of what it meant to be a journalist in the midst of those times.

Kinzer was a first-hand witness to much of Nicaragua’s turbulent ’80s — from the last days of the Somoza dictatorship through the Sandinista revolution, civil war with the U.

From that standpoint, the war which is the central focus of the book, and any future cival war which one of the locals told me could happen, is not just tragic nut pointless and idiotic. Review quote By the former New York Times Managua bureau chief, this is a well-written, information-rich survey of modern Nicaragua.

Instead, I rapidly devoured it in three days, sneaking peaks during breaks at work, at the dinner table, and upon waking up in the morning It is the rare book that keeps me up past midnight, frantically turning pages under a reading lamp to see what comes next; it is rarer still that such a book is a nonfiction account rather than the latest Harry Potter installment.

Kinzer also discusses the impact of the Sandinista and Samoza policies on the people of Nicaragua and why Nicaragua continues to be a place of intrigue. This is a book of the highest quality about one of the most poorly understood countries in Latin America and U.

Blood of Brothers : Life and War in Nicaragua

Now THAT would have made for an interesting story. Not the same guy. If the guest did not know the hospital, then I would begin asking questions: When Sandinistas began trying to regulate their lives and work, the result was predictable. It is a vibrant portrait of the Nicaraguan people and their volcanic land, a cultural history rich in poetry and bloodshed, baseball and insurrection. Excellent book about the Contra War in Nicaragua, good detail really brings to life the conflict and all its actors providing great insights.

In their myopic vision of fighting the evil empire of world communism they misled the American people as to what was going on in Nicaragua and caused the unnessary deaths of thousands of young Nicaraguans on both sides of the civil war. A great political history of Nicaragua, focusing intently on the Sandinista revolution that toppled the Somoza regime, fought the counter-revolution Contras, lost power in the first real democratic and free elections, and now has taken control again.

Both events exposed the reality of the Contra war and its destructive aims, and helped the push towards the eventual peace process which Kinzer also describes. Nov 23, Robert Enzenauer rated it it was amazing. Stephen Kinzer writes an engaging although sad and depressing narrative about Nicaragua during the U. It’s a sad, kunzer history full of corruption and violence as the Sandinistas, the contras, and the Reagan-led U.

It is the rare sephen that keeps me up past midnight, frantically turning pages under a reading stephfn to see what comes next; it is rarer still that minzer a book is a nonfiction account rather than the latest Harry Potter installment. Where does this leave the Sandinistas?

Could the Sandinistas been able to end up with a more moderate and more progressive regime had that not happened? It covers so many aspects from a myriad of angles.

Blood of Brothers — Stephen Kinzer | Harvard University Press

With the help of the CIA, the Contras always have a fighting chance. In Nicaragua, the reverse was happening: I read this book in lieu of going on our study abroad trip to Nicaragua. Kinzer served in Central America first in the s as a freelance journalist and later as a New York Times bureau chief in Managua He was also well-placed to become the local correspondent for the New York Times, which is what he was from onwards.

A whimsical narrative that gives great light to the actual history of Nicaragua throughout the different conflicts, but is a little polished in the realities of the whole situation.

But more importantly, I think he got he spirit of Nicaragua right. Years later I actually met Stephen Kinzer at a speaking engagement at Politics and Prose after he did a reading of his book Overthrow.

Most streets in post-earthquake Managua had no names Nicaraguans, from what I can surmise, do not care about polititcs much, but are well aware that their leaders are hoodwinking them.