Description
Book SynopsisDescribing the life and ideas of the founder of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), this work is a biography of Carlos Fonseca Amador, an important and influential figure of the post-1959 revolutionary generation in Latin America.
Trade Review“Good English language historical studies of modern Nicaragua can be counted on one hand. Joining this elite group, Zimmermann’s well-researched, -organized, and -written book focuses on the most important (yet oft-misunderstood) figure in the FSLN insurgency of the 1960s and 1970s, Carlos Fonseca. As such, it is welcome, indeed.”—Thomas W. Walker, Ohio University
“In this century we have had to look hard not only at the great struggles for justice but at the lives of the men who led those struggles. In this well-researched biography of Carlos Fonseca, founder and indisputable leader of the FSLN until his death in battle two years before Somoza’s defeat, Matilde Zimmermann gives us a compelling portrait of someone obsessed with detail, puritanical but caring, brilliant and determined. Zimmermann asks the difficult questions and her answers are sometimes surprising. A must read for anyone interested in Nicaragua—or in the overall issue of social change.”—Margaret Randall, author of
SANDINO'S DAUGHTERS and
SANDINO'S DAUGHTERS REVISITED “Zimmermann does an excellent job explaining the real content of the FSLN’s internal differences, going a long way beyond the very schematic and surface readings that have appeared thus far. It is a pioneering effort and our understanding of the Sandinista revolution is substantially enriched by this study.”—Barry Carr, LaTrobe University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Matagalpa: The Early Years, 1939-1950 12
2. A Rebellious Student, 1950-1958 28
3. The Cuban Revolution, 1958-1961 50
4. Founding the FSLN, 1960-1964 69
5. The Evolution of a Strategy, 1964-1968 88
6. Underground and Prison Life, 1968-1970 111
7. The Sandino Writings, 1970-1974 143
8. A Fractured Movement, 1972-1975 162
9. The Montana and the Death of Fonseca, 1975-1976 185
10. The Revolution of 1979 205
Epilogue 222
Notes 229
Glossary of Organization 257
Bibliography 259
Index 271
