Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy (English and Spanish Edition) [B0800]

2011 french-flap PB, 9.5x12-inches, 219-pages, in nice clean condition. Many U.S. citizens still do not recognize the role the U.S. government played in stopping these movements towards democracy in Central America. From early 1985 through mid 1990, Paul Dix used his camera to document the effects of the U.S.-funded Contra War on the poor of Nicaragua. In 2002, from the thousands he had photographed, Paul selected approximately 100 Nicaraguans for follow-up. He and Pam Fitzpatrick had amazing luck when they returned to Nicaragua on four separate trips for a total of seventeen months, and located nearly all of these individuals. They were able to share the earlier photos with family members, take new photographs and record testimonies. Paul and Pam shared this material in colleges across the U.S. for two academic years and have put their material into book form. Their bilingual book includes photos and testimonies from approximately thirty of the nearly one hundred Nicaraguans they re-contacted.

From Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "So impressed by this book. The effort to find people. The translations. The formatting to have a bilingual book. The amazing photos. The power of the stories."; "Lots of books are described as labors of love, and Paul Dix and Pamela Fitzpatrick's somber, moving photo essay certainly qualifies. During the Contra War of the 1980s, Dix was a Witness for Peace photographer documenting the consequences of war for rural Nicaraguans living in the war zones. Decades later the authors returned to Nicaragua with a stack of 100 photos and criss-crossed the country in buses trying to track down the (usually unnamed) faces found there. This book is a reminder of the terrible costs that war exacts on the locals. These sorts of books are typically published years after the war in question is finished, but they still carry important truths that we should keep in mind for the next one."; "Very well done. Large format to appreciate the images better, the text puts a story behind each image. The 'before and after' comparison brings out the human cost of suffering - as governments' political bickering uses real lives as pawns in their chess game. It is a REAL eye-opener for all of us to consider."; "I bought the book to improve my Spanish and learn a little about something that for me was just memories of newscasts from my childhood that I never understood. I wasn't expecting to be touched so deeply."