“Reckoning”

I just finished Reckoning: The Ends of War in Guatemala (2009) by Duke anthropologist Diane M. Nelson. I am in the process of a big piece on Guatemala – centered around Ms. Nelson’s wonderful book – which I’ll highly recommend.

Her book, in very brief, offers many examinations of “postwar” Guatemala and its meaning/s, from the CEH report in 1999, David Stoll’s accusations against Rigoberta Menchu and the duplicity in daily life as well as the ever present counterinsurgency state. But I’ll hold off on explaining, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

As a historian, it was often times over my head, but I cannot remember, honestly, the last time any scholarly writer has pulled me as hard and deep as Reckoning did, nor can I remember a book that had a continuity and pacing the way this book does.