Customer Reviews

Guatemala: Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One has to understand the purpose of this amnesty international book. The sole intent is to demonstrate the deplorable human rights situation in guatemala. There is no intent to present a balanced picture. Basically it is a summarization of guatemala in the 1980s a terrible decade for that country. No punches are pulled here, just page after page of horror upon horror all presented in vivid color. The photograpahy is wonderful and i can't think of many books about guatemala with better photos. They capture the beauty of the land and people and the blatant tragedy at hand.

This book isn't for the squeamish. I first read it as i was preparing to travel there to study spanish. This book scared me to death but more than that it outraged me and i think that was the purpose. Secondly it does educate at a basic level what has been going on in guatemala.

A good primer about the human rights atrocities in guatemala.

.................socks

I ran across a used copy of this book before my first trip to Guatemala, and it radicalized me, preparing me for the devastating effects of the country's 35-year-long civil war. While the war is officially over, this book still has relevance to the plight Guatemala's indigenous population -- 90% of its people. It is remarkable that the author -- a woman, a photographer, a human rights activist, and a foreigner -- was able to get as close to her subjects as she did. This extremely moving photo-and-text essay is not for the faint of heart, but if you want a taste of what present-day Guatemalans have lived through, this book delivers it.

It is a rare instance to use a book as a base for creating such a moving experience. This book presents in raw, guttural and palpable images the cruel reality that has affected so many so close to us. Guatemala is still a dychotomy of social classes, of race, religion, power. The eternal tyranny has not yet devoured the precious landscapes nor its people... as long as people who produce books like this give a voice to the victims and put an image of injustice, oppresion, abuse, to teach us that when a people suffer, we all suffer with them. Guatemala, so beautiful, is not yet healed from this wound. I cannot feel but worry for all those who continue strugglig for survival, identity, and a life free of oppresion. This book is but the tip of the iceberg... I have done many interviews (informal conversations) with former Kaibil and G-2 officials (brutes, killing machines) who have applied for political assylum here in the US, who surprisingly are living a pretty much normal life. They have retold (not acknowledging any guilt, of course) killings of innocents which took place time and time again...The pictures bring out the bloodshed so the people who died are not forgotten. The book will give you just enough. You will be amazed to find out how this book was realized. Please don't just look at it, share it with those who need to be touched with human suffering and people like you and I who want to make a difference...

I ordered this book, and it said it was in good condition, but gently used. Actually, when I got it, I thought it hadn't even been used, it was in such great shape! Only a few pen marks and dog-eared pages, which were carefully repressed down, were visible. I have been looking for this book for a long time, and can't believe I got one! It has been out of print for quite awhile! THANKS!! Would highly recommend this seller! It arrived quickly with my other book I ordered.

A totally narcissistic offering from a famous narcissist, a woman who can see 'documenting' Guatemala's atrocities as publishing a photo of herself drinking coffee and label it, "Guatemala, 1980", a woman who continues to use photos of herself from 30 years ago, when she's not busily exploiting the Mayans for her own gain.

A woman who has given nothing to Guatemala and sits in Washington each day, she's not fit to kiss Nineth Montenegro's boots.

Fraudulent.

As the editorial reviews point out, this work falls short on solutions and those offered can be cataloged as 'naive.' Still, it IS a work of photojournalism, so its purpose is mostly limited to that of bearing witness. As the author of two guidebooks on Guatemala, I was contacted by the author requesting that I include this work in the list of suggested reading at the end of my books. Given that it's out of print in the U.S. and I think there are better options for understanding Guatemala's human rights tragedies, I have to refrain from recommending it. Also, I take issue with people who write the only one-star review of your product (it averages 4 stars) Moon Guatemala (Moon Handbooks) while simultaneously asking you to endorse theirs.