The Sandinista Revolution - (New Cold War History) by Mateo Jarquín (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Sandinista Revolution and its victory against the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua gripped the United States and the world in the 1980s. But as soon as the Sandinistas were voted out of power in 1990 and the Iran Contra affair ceased to make headlines, it became, in Washington at least, a thing of the past. Mateo Jarquâin recenters the revolution as a major episode in the history of Latin America, the international left, and the Cold War. Drawing on research in Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica, he recreates the perspective of Sandinista leaders in Managua and argues that their revolutionary project must be understood in international context. Because struggles over the Revolution unfolded transnationally, the Nicaraguan drama had lasting consequences for Latin American politics at a critical juncture. It also reverberated in Western Europe, among socialists worldwide, and beyond, illuminating global dynamics like the spread of democracy and the demise of a bipolar world dominated by two superpowers. Jarquâin offers a sweeping analysis of the last left-wing revolution of the twentieth century, an overview of inter-American affairs in the 1980s, and an incisive look at the making of the post-Cold War order"--

Book Synopsis

The Sandinista Revolution and its victory against the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua gripped the United States and the world in the 1980s. But as soon as the Sandinistas were voted out of power in 1990 and the Iran Contra affair ceased to make headlines, it became, in Washington at least, a thing of the past.

Mateo Jarquín recenters the revolution as a major episode in the history of Latin America, the international left, and the Cold War. Drawing on research in Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica, he recreates the perspective of Sandinista leaders in Managua and argues that their revolutionary project must be understood in international context. Because struggles over the Revolution unfolded transnationally, the Nicaraguan drama had lasting consequences for Latin American politics at a critical juncture. It also reverberated in Western Europe, among socialists worldwide, and beyond, illuminating global dynamics like the spread of democracy and the demise of a bipolar world dominated by two superpowers.

Jarquín offers a sweeping analysis of the last left-wing revolution of the twentieth century, an overview of inter-American affairs in the 1980s, and an incisive look at the making of the post-Cold War order.

Review Quotes

"Jarquín takes a balanced and nuanced approach. . . . Refreshingly, he sees the Sandinista Revolution outside the narrow prism of US foreign policy debates. VERDICT: A meticulous political history of the Sandinistas during the long 1980s."--Library Journal

"A sweeping diplomatic and political history of the Sandinista Revolution, it is essential reading for students and historians of Central America, Third World revolutions and the global Cold War."--Journal of Latin American Studies

"At last, we have a one-volume history of the Nicaraguan Revolution that is balanced, well researched, and authoritativeDue to Mateo Jarquín's fine research, there is much for readers to contemplate about revolution and authoritarianism in this book."--The Americas

"The Sandinista Revolution convincingly shift[s] attention to the myriad efforts undertaken by state and non-state actors to bring peace to Nicaragua in the decade following the ouster of Somoza.. . . Exhaustively researched."--Cold War History

"The Sandinista Revolution makes the case for diplomatic history brilliantly . . . Jarquín's contribution to the broader project of understanding Latin America's last great revolution is . . . impressive."--Los Angeles Review of Books

"A concise and nuanced telling of the Sandinista Revolution and its international legacy that effectively de-centers the United States. . . . Jarquín looks beyond the shadow of U.S. imperialism and toward the broader international influences that informed and responded to the shifting governing practices of Sandinista leadership throughout the 1980s."--A Contracorriente

"An authoritative, deeply documented account of a pivotal period in Nicaraguan history that also brilliantly illuminates major trends in inter-American and North-South relations."--Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs

"For its analysis on the diplomatic history of the Sandinista Revolution, this book is a must-read for those interested in Nicaragua, Central America, Latin American relations, and even US intervention in Latin America."--H-LatAm

"This is the new go-to source to understand the revolution through a joint exploration of domestic and transnational politics, and how those two intertwined."--CHOICE

"Transnational history at its best . . . [Jarquín] chart[s], in commendably accessible prose, the vicissitudes of the Nicaraguan Revolution in the global context within which it needs to be properly viewed. . . . [The book} offer[s] important, nuanced insights into the nature of Sandinista revolutionary diplomacy, and into how it interacted with US allies in Latin America and western Europe."--International Affairs