This exceptional collection revisits the aftermath of the 1954 coup that ousted the democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz. Contributors frame the impact of 1954 not only in terms of the liberal reforms and coffee revolutions of the nineteenth century, but also in terms of post-1954 U.S. foreign policy and the genocide of the 1970s and 1980s. This volume is of particular interest in the current era of the United States' re-emerging foreign policy based on preemptive strikes and a presumed clash of civilizations.

Recent research and the release of newly declassified U.S. government documents underscore the importance of reading Guatemala's current history through the lens of 1954. Scholars and researchers who have worked in Guatemala from the 1940s to the present articulate how the coup fits into ethnographic representations of Guatemala. Highlighting the voices of individuals with whom they have lived and worked, the contributors also offer an unmatched understanding of how the events preceding and following the coup played out on the ground.

Contributors are Abigail E. Adams, Richard N. Adams, David Carey Jr., Christa Little-Siebold, Judith M. Maxwell, Victor D. Montejo, June C. Nash, and Timothy J. Smith.

Timothy J. Smith is an assistant professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University. Abigail E. Adams is a professor of anthropology at Central Connecticut State University.

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction
Reflecting upon the Historical Impact of the Coup     1
Timothy J. Smith
1. Antonio Goubaud Carrera: Between the Contradictions of the Generacion de 1920 and U.S. Anthropology     17
Abigail E. Adams
2. Recovering the Truth of the 1954 Coup: Restoring Peace with Justice     49
June C. Nash
3. A Democracy Born in Violence: Maya Perceptions of the 1944 Patzicia Massacre and the 1954 Coup     73
David Carey Jr.
4. The Politics of Land, Identity, and Silencing: A Case Study from El Oriente of Guatemala, 1944-54     99
Christa Little-Siebold
5. The Path Back to Literacy: Maya Education through War and Beyond     115
Judith M. Maxwell
6. Democracy Delayed: The Evolution of Ethnicity in Guatemala Society, 1944-96     134
Richard N. Adams
Epilogue
The October Revolution and the Peace Accords     151
Victor D. Montejo, translated by Abigail E. Adams
List of Contributors     155
Index     159