The Death of Ben Linder: The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua [Paperback]

Joan Kruckewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2001

In 1987, the death of Ben Linder, the first American killed by President Reagan's "freedom fighters" -- the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras -- ignited a firestorm of protest and debate. In this landmark first biography of Linder, investigative journalist Joan Kruckewitt tells his story.
In the summer of 1983, a 23-year-old American named Ben Linder arrived in Managua with a unicycle and a newly earned degree in engineering. In 1986, Linder moved from Managua to El Cuá, a village in the Nicaraguan war zone, where he helped form a team to build a hydroplant to bring electricity to the town. He was ambushed and killed by the Contras the following year while surveying a stream for a possible hydroplant.
In 1993, Kruckewitt traveled to the Nicaraguan mountains to investigate Linder's death. In July 1995. she finally located and interviewed one of the men who killed Ben Linder, a story that became the basis for a New Yorker feature on Linder's death. Linder's story is a portrait of one idealist who died for his beliefs, as well as a picture of a failed foreign policy, vividly exposing the true dimensions of a war that forever marked the lives of both Nicaraguans and Americans.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Some deaths in war are unmistakably heroic, sacrifices for the greater good. Some are merely sacrifices, and whatever good comes from them happens years later, when the events surrounding them have been all but forgotten. Such was the case with the death of Ben Linder, a young American engineer who, fired by ideals of social justice, volunteered to aid the Sandinista revolution that overthrew the corrupt dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua in 1979.

Ben Linder arrived in Nicaragua four years later, where he worked to build a hydroelectric dam that would bring electrical power to the remote northern highlands. As journalist Joan Kruckewitt observes in The Death of Ben Linder, "Nicaragua was to leftists throughout the world in the 1980s what Spain was to progressive Americans in the 1930s," a place where a popular revolution might for once bring peace and even happiness to the downtrodden. Officials in the administration of President Ronald Reagan viewed the matter quite differently, however; Reagan once remarked, seriously, that Nicaraguan tanks were only three days' drive from the American border--yet another Communist threat that lay too close to be countenanced.

Linder was murdered by counterrevolutionaries--the Contras--in 1987, almost certainly with the foreknowledge and perhaps even tacit approval of American intelligence officials. Kruckewitt draws on recently declassified CIA documents and her own field reporting to discover why Linder--and why Sandinista Nicaragua--should have been perceived as being such a threat. She paints a sympathetic portrait of young Linder, too, who, even though idealistic, seems not to have been naive; he recognized that he was in danger, but he pressed on, anyway, to do his part for the revolution, helping build a dam that now provides electricity to former Sandinistas and Contras alike. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

JOAN KRUCKEWITT is a journalist who lived in Nicaragua from 1983-1991 and covered the war between the Sandinistas and the U.S.-backed Contras for ABC Radio. She reported from Latin America and Europe for various radio networks (Pacifica, RKO, Mutual, NBC, Monitoradio, Canadian Broadcasting Company, National Public Radio) and newspapers. Kruckewitt lives in Northern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (August 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583220682
• ISBN-13: 978-1583220689
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Two Wars:Personal Courage Transcends the Politics, April 7, 2000

By 

Evelyn Tully Costa - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Death of Ben Linder; The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua (Hardcover)

"Kruckewitt cuts through the turbulent politics of the 80's in Central America to tell the story of one young man's dream against the back drop of love, war and assassination.

With great care towards historic detail, Kruckewitt has performed a scholarly service to any student of history, as well as bringing to life the day to day struggle of this poor Latin American country under siege and those volunteers who flocked from allover the world to lend aid.

Kruckewitt's tale builds suspensefully, chapter after chapter as the thumbscrews of the United State's illegal war against Nicaragua tighten against modest social change and on Linder's personal journey into the Sandinista revolution. Kruckewitt reveals the effects of Washington's corrupt political policy that ultimately ends in the murder of this dedicated man and his Nicaraguan companions -poignantly told in a heartbreaking narrative that takes you deep into the Nicaraguan mountains filled with danger and hope. As the body count rises around him, Linder, an engineer, races against time to complete his small hydro-electric project in the rural village of El Cua - the ever increasing threat of death from military attacks takes on metaphorical proportions of David and Goliath. As those struggling to build and benefit from the tiny power plant are picked off, one by one, by the U.S. sponsored, trained and directed mercenaries known as the "Contras" we are swept breathlessly to his death.

This is a riveting, suspenseful drama, a study in courage and hope - hope in the face of the an enemy both ideological and lethally real. For those wishing to understand the passions, conflicts and historic context of the Nicaraguan controversy, set in a gripping , tragic context - read this book."

Evelyn Tully Costa Four Corners Radio/NPR Freelancer

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Did the CIA kill Ben Linder?, September 3, 2000

By 

Mike Rhodes (Fresno, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of Ben Linder; The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua (Hardcover)

If you are one of the many people who risked their lives when they traveled to Central America during the 1980's this book is for you! If you missed that experience but want to know what would motivate someone to risk their lives for peace and social justice by going to Nicaragua and participating in the revolution then, this book is for you!

During the 1980's U.S. foreign policy in Central America was driven by an obsessive effort to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas had overthrown a dictator and were developing a society that put people before profits. They set up free health care, carried out a massive literacy campaign, and gave land to small farmers.

This threat of "a good example" was countered by the U.S. which created a mercenary army (the Contras) who set out to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Tactics included killing teachers, destroying health clinics, and forcing the Sandinistas to spend more and more of their resources on the military.

Ben Linder was an engineer from Portland who put his life on the line to support the people of Nicaragua. Ben was also a clown and often put on his red nose and clown make-up to juggle and unicycle in poor neighborhoods, where children had never seen a clown. He worked in a small rural village in Northern Nicaragua, maybe 30 miles from my communities sister city of Telpaneca, near the Honduran border. Like the Fresnan's who built a school in Telpaneca during the Contra War, Ben was working on a hydroelectric project trying in a positive way to support the revolution. THE DEATH OF BEN LINDER, THE STORY OF A NORTH AMERICAN IN SANDINISTA NICARAGUA is an insightful book that reminds us why people are willing to put their lives on the line for a cause they believe in. It shows the tragic results of U.S. foreign policy that seeks to make the world safe for corporations seeking to maximize profits.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nearly forgotten time and martyr honored, December 3, 1999

By 

Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz "Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, w... - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Death of Ben Linder; The Story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua (Hardcover)

Besides being a gripping story told well, this is the most important book yet about Sandinista Nicaragua, the US not so covert war against it, and the anti-interventionist movement in the United States (and other countries). I had to read it in small doses as it brought back the terror and anguish I experienced working in the war zone during the same period. For anyone who did, it is impossible not to feel that Ben Linder died in our place, and that we must never forget his sacrifice lest we forget the still unresolved crimes against humanity committed in our name.