The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics

The Guatemala Reader is the most recent contribution to Duke University Press’s Latin America Readers series, and it has the stated intent of being a “broad introduction to the country” while avoiding the trap of equating “Guatemala’s history, culture, and politics with its long experience of conflict, racism, and violence” (p. 3). To this end, the editors have done an exemplary job of including a range of materials often overlooked in a historical overview: along with selections from well- respected Guatemalan and international scholars are included opinion pieces, declassified documents, examples from the visual and creative arts, storytelling, music, and other materials that meaningfully “capture the diversity of Guatemala life” (p. 3). Readers unfamiliar with Guatemala will garner enough information about the country’s conflicts, racism, and violence to appreciate the historical, cultural, and political contexts that inform modern- day Guatemala; seasoned Guatemalanists will find a wealth of sources that offer...