Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua [Hardcover]

Stephen Kinzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 1991

In 1976, at age twenty-five, Stephen Kinzer arrived in Nicaragua as a freelance journalist--and became a witness to history. He returned many times during the years that followed, becoming Latin America correspondent for the Boston Globe in 1981 and joining the foreign staff of the New York Times in 1983. That year he openedthe New York Times Managua bureau, making that newspaper the first daily in America to maintain a full-time office in Nicaragua.

Widely considered the best-connected journalist in Central America, Kinzer personally met and interviewed people at every level of the Somoza, Sandinistas and contra hierarchies, as well as dissidents, heads of state, and countless ordinary citizens throughout the region.

Blood of Brothers is Kinzer's dramatic story of the centuries-old power struggle that burst into the headlines in 1979 with the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship. It is a vibrant portrait of the Nicaraguan people and their volcanic land, a cultural history rich in poetry and bloodshed, baseball and insurrection.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By the former New York Times Managua bureau chief, this is a well-written, information-rich survey of modern Nicaragua. Kinzer describes how Cesar Sandino's 1927-33 anti-U.S. campaign shaped the country's political development and inspired the overthrow of the Somoza regime in 1979. He analyzes the Reagan administration's "secret war" against the Sandinistas, and the deception that the contras existed only to interdict arms shipments to El Salvador. Kinzer relates many personal stories of his interaction with Nicaraguans, and he includes the exciting tale of his on-the-spot discovery of a U.S.-supplied contra camp in Honduras--a front-page scoop. He traces the confrontation between the Catholic church and the junta, the peace initiative by Costa Rica's Oscar Arias, the negotiated settlement that more or less ended the conflict and the surprising electoral victory of Violeta Chamorro over Daniel Ortega in 1990. Kinzer concludes that the Sandinistas grossly underestimated the moral power of the Catholic bishops, that they lost significant support by mistreating the Miskito Indians, and that they mistakenly believed they could build a prosperous Nicaragua "without deferring to the principle of free enterprise." Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Kinzer served in Central America first in the 1970s as a freelance journalist and later as a New York Times bureau chief in Managua (1983-89). An eyewitness to events, he interviewed members of the Somoza, Sandinista, and contra hierarchies. As a result, he provides a highly objective and balanced assessment of events that led to the fall of the Somoza government in 1979. Kinzer avoids ideological bias, but he does note that the Sandinistas came to power because "those most likely to shed blood are the most likely to triumph." Yet despite their many shortcomings, he concludes "the Sandinistas at least provided a basis upon which a genuine democracy could be built." An example of public affairs journalism at its best, his book will stand as the definitive study of Nicaragua in the turbulent 1980s. It belongs in every public and school library.
- J.A. Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 450 pages
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (April 4, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399135944
• ISBN-13: 978-0399135941
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > History > Americas > Central America > Nicaragua

More About the Author

Stephen Kinzer was Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times and is now that paper's national cultural correspondent. He is the author of Blood of Brothers and co-author of Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala. He lives in Chicago.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book filled with insight on life in Nicaragua during, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua (Hardcover)

...the late 1970's-1980's period. I read this book after having spent time in Central America myself. I think Steven did a wonderful job of telling the truth about what happened in Nicaragua during the years he was there. He showed where the Sandinistas failed, and where the U.S. government failed the people of Nicaragua. Throughout the whole book he really made the reader aware of the stories that these people lived out; from a engineer from Portland, Oregon going down to help out, to the children in the hospitals suffering from war wounds. There is a large amount of history, personal experience, and cultural images to be gained from reading by book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harsh truths for Sandinistas, Contras -- and Americans, June 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua (Paperback)

I was a foreign correspondent in Nicaragua for much of the period covered by Kinzer's book. Typically, American correspondents came and went every couple of years; Kinzer was there before the victory of the 1979 revolution and stayed to the end of a most bloody chapter in this country's history. I do not believe anyone has captured better the strange, almost surreal beauty of this land nor the full horror of the bloodbath it had suffered by the end of the 1980s. Those looking for finger-pointing and the moral of the story will be disappointed; but what Kinzer depicts is the truth, a harsh one for all involved.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thrilling Journey of a NYT Reporter, September 23, 2005

By 

Alexandra126 "Alexandra126" (The South) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua (Hardcover)

Being a refugee who left the country as a child I never got an unbiased look at what really happened until I read this amazing book. It starts off before the takeover of the country by the communist Sandinistas to after the stunning election over a decade later. Stephen Kizer describes thrilling journeys where bombs go off at news conferences and clandestine stumblings into a contra camp. This book has humor (Rice for Peace?!), sadness (the 30,000 faceless people who died in the middle), to the mystical (a fair and poignant treatment of the Miskito Indians). Also the books details the visit of the Pope to Nicaragua which would headline news for various reasons as well as singer Kris Kristofferson (!) lending support to the Sandinista regime whose leaders soon afterwards head off to friendly nations of Libya and the Soviet Union. This book could almost be descibed as the definitive encylopedia of information but it's so much more: If my family hadn't lived through it it would almost read as a spy novel. There is also plenty of photos showing the major players of the conflict as well as personal photos of the author.