I would gladly use this book in an introductory class on Latin American politics and history. It manages to convey, in 150 pages, the historical roots of Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist guerrilla movement responsible for more than half of all politically motivated deaths in Peru between 1980 and 2000, while also providing a concise history of its emergence, evolution, and defeat after the 1992 arrest of its main ideologue and strategist, Abimael Guzmán. Rénique also analyzes the shifts in Sendero strategy after Guzmán’s arrest, which is important to help us understand present concerns of a resurgence of guerrilla activity in this troubled Andean nation.
The book is more than just another retelling of Sendero’s emergence and defeat. First, it emphasizes the historical continuities between Andean radicalism and Sendero. It also explores Sendero’s voluntarism—seen nowhere more clearly than in its efforts (largely successful) at turning Peru’s prisons into key fronts in...
