Central American pensadores have interpreted the theories of Marx and other scholars of revolution in diverse ways. In this book Sheldon Liss examines the political theory and ideology of some of Central America's most important radical thinkers, including non-Marxists, and demonstrates how they have challenged the tenets of imperialism and capitalism. Chapters on individual Central American countries begin with brief historical introductions that emphasize the rise of radical activities and organizations. Individual essays based on published writings, interviews, and scholarly analyses of their works then establish each writer's personal ideology, social and political goals, and theories of society, state, and institutions of power. Liss also examines their relationship to social and political movements and contributions to the national intellectual life of the past and present. In addition, Liss discusses the writers' understanding of the role of the United States in the Americas and beliefs about national struggles for independence. By focusing on political and social theory and on intellectual history, this book also provides the background critical for understanding recent developments and changes in Central America.

On a Thursday morning in 1981, four thousand campesinos (fieldworkers), fleeing a US-funded Salvadoran death squad, stumbled down the rocky, overgrown side of a hill to the Lempa River. Some were mown down by machine guns and the strafing of helicopters; others drowned as they were swept away by the river. The rest escaped to live the next eight years in UN refugee camps in Honduras. In 1989 many of these refugees returned to El Salvador as the repatriated community of Valle Nuevo. Compañeros tells the stories of a twenty-five year relationship of accompaniment, healing, and forgiveness between Valle Nuevo and a small association of churches in the United States, Shalom Mission Communities. The two groups have come to embrace a transnational communion with one another despite the economic, political, and spiritual chasms that exist today. This work is a collective, collaborative effort of storytelling and theological reflection, interweaving oral and written accounts of suffering, thanksgiving, sharing, remembering, and proclaiming the death of Christ until he comes again.

By the time he was killed in the jungles of Bolivia, where his body was displayed like a deposed Christ, Ernesto "Che" Guevara had become a synonym for revolution everywhere from Cuba to the barricades of Paris. This extraordinary biography peels aside the veil of the Guevara legend to reveal the charismatic, restless man behind it. Drawing on archival materials from three continents and on interviews with Guevara's family and associates, Castaneda follows Che from his childhood in the Argentine middle class through the years of pilgrimage that turned him into a committed revolutionary. He examines Guevara's complex relationship with Fidel Castro, and analyzes the flaws of character that compelled him to leave Cuba and expend his energies, and ultimately his life, in quixotic adventures in the Congo and Bolivia. A masterpiece of scholarship, Companero is the definitive portrait of a figure who continues to fascinate and inspire the world over.

Toward Campoluna captures the romance and excitement of a unique generation in a unique place. In 1955, lifeguard and surf bum Corky McCork and his bighearted artist friend, Reebar Tornay, hit the road for some adventure. When they come to the aid of barefoot and bleeding Eliomara Vasquez, the three become interlinked in an international adventure that lasts a lifetime. The men help the feisty Eliomara to escape the border patrol authorities who want to send her back to Mexico, and then Corky, Reebar, and Eliomara continue on to individual journeys, facing countless dangers and challenges, before their lives again intersect, many years later, in a joint quest for meaning, purpose, and peace. The three come back together, this time joined by Lumina, the beautiful Bulgarian eccentric; Tireseo, the blind poet-revolutionary; Sylvia, the enigmatic spy; and Pulo, the breeder of fighting cocks; to form Campoluna, a rugged artists' colony in rural Mexico. Meant to be a haven in the face of a drastically changing world and the Vietnam War, Campoluna becomes a test of the precarious balance between the magnificent loneliness of individuality and the arduous pleasure of human bonds, as well as a testament to the power of collectively embracing life with vigor and hope. "Vivid characters, an overwhelming plot, strong passions, defeats and hopes and longing, compassion and loneliness this is literature " -Edvard Hoem, author of Ave Eva and The Ferry Crossing

Telling the affecting stories of eighty gay, bisexual, and transgender (GBT) Latino activists and volunteers living in Chicago and San Francisco, Compañeros: Latino Activists in the Face of AIDS closely details how these individuals have been touched or transformed by the AIDS epidemic. Weaving together activists' responses to oppression and stigma, their encounters with AIDS, and their experiences as GBTs and Latinos in North America and Latin America, Jesus Ramirez-Valles explores the intersection of civic involvement with ethnic and sexual identity. Even as activists battle multiple sources of oppression, they are able to restore their sense of family connection and self-esteem through the creation of an alternative space in which community members find value in their relationships with one another. In demonstrating the transformative effects of a nurturing community environment for GBT Latinos affected by the AIDS epidemic, Ramirez-Valles illustrates that members find support in one another, as compañeros, in their struggles with homophobia, gender discrimination, racism, poverty, and forced migration.