[Alex's mom]

For any with children from Guatemala, please read "I, Rigoberta Menchu". Unbelievable true stories about the persecution of the Indian people in Guatemala. Along with the stories about her family, the book will teach you LOTS about the Indian culture and traditions in Guatemala. Anybody else have any good "read" suggestions to learn more about Guatemala and the culture there?


Amy, mom to two Guatemalan angels

[wblewett]

I just ordered this from Amazon, it does look good. Thanks for the suggestion.

[foxl]

I started this book but have not had time to finish it!

The author won the Nobel Peace Prize but then her credibility was brought into question. It is an intersting story in and of itself -- apparently many of her stories did not quite fit her "documented" background, but some state that her stories are certainly true in spirit.

Linda

[KevinK]

I believe Rigoberta Menchu admitted that some of the stories were of others she knew. I haven't read it yet but as I understand it, it is only the title that would indicate that these are all her stories. The book itself has a character. Am I mistaken about that?

Other great books to get in the know...

Paradise in Ashes by Beatriz Manz - traces the village of Santa Maria Teja over a thirty year period from its incarnation as the first cooperative to move into the rainsforest to its destruction during the war, and subsequent rebuilding. Manz is a sociologist from UC Berkeley and the book does a great job of teaching the culture as well as about the war. I felt like it taught me alot about what our birthmother may have experienced and how that ultimately brought our daughter to us.

Bitter Fruit by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer - if you want to learn about how the Guatemalan Civil War began and just how involved the US government was in it, this is te book for you. If you're someone who does not like to ponder what American foreign policy is often all about, don;t read it because you will either be angered or you will not believe it. Since it came out, the story as told in this book is pretty much accepted as truth. The CIA files have now been released through the FOIA. It reads a bit like a history book but will give you excellent insight into how the interests of the United Fruit Company ultimately led to the death of 200,000 innocent civilians. And you will be upset about how a democratically elected leader, Arbenz, who was doing great things was ousted because he would only pay this company the decalred tax value of their unused lands he was going to give to the poor. Off my soapbox....

Kevin

[delaware1]

I liked this one:

Margarita: A Guatemalan Peace Corps Experience
by Marjorie DeMoss Casebolt

happy reading-
Kathleen

[tm67]

Of the books I've read so far these are my favorites.

Silence on the Mountain
Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala
by Daniel Wilkinson

Searching For Everardo
A story of Love, War and the CIA in Guatemala
by Jennifer K. Harbury