Description
Book SynopsisDocuments the history of Catholic activists to mitigate human rights abuses in Guatemala and the failed US policies in the country and region during the 1970s and 1980s.
Trade Review“Michael Cangemi provides an outstanding contribution to historical research on Guatemala, Catholic activism, and US policy in Central America. By using a breadth of United States English language secular and religious archives, a range of Catholic newspaper accounts, and by delving into Guatemalan Human Rights reports, Cangemi creates a dialogue among these distinct experiences of and perspectives on Guatemala’s violent history.”—Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrens, author of
The Maryknoll Catholic Mission in Peru, 1943–1989: Transnational Faith and Transformation "The book is a work of remarkably deep multilingual and multiarchival research that uses documents from religious as well as government archives in the United States and Guatemala, Catholic newspapers, and official human rights reports to give a voice to the victims of the Guatemalan genocide. Cangemi treats the topic with extraordinary sensitivity, delving deeply into diplomatic relations, state and church relations, and the experiences of Guatemalans and Catholic activists, including priests, nuns, and lay people. It is a wrenching, devastating account, but never a sensationalized one, and Cangemi weaves together the complex stories of transnational human rights activism, Cold War exigencies, and genocide with sophistication. The writing is crisp and the arguments compelling. It adds considerable to our understanding of Cold War U.S.-Latin American relations as well as to our understanding of the religious dynamics of genocide and the significant influence of religious activism on U.S. politics and foreign policy making. In short, it is a groundbreaking addition to the work on religious groups and the Guatemalan civil war that scholars such as Theresa Keeley and Virginia Garrard have done."—Lauren Turek, author of
To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations.
