Historical dictionary of Guatemala

For more than a century, travel writers, explorers, and movie producers have painted Guatemala as an exotic place, a land of tropical forests and the home of the ancient and living Maya. Archaeological ruins, abandoned a millennium ago, have enhanced their depictions with a wistful, dreamy aura of bygone days of pagan splendor, and the unique colorful textiles of rural Maya today connect nostaligically with that distant past. Inspired by that vision, fascinated tourists have flocked here for the past six decades. Most have not been disappointed; it is a genuine facet of a complex land. Guatemala is also a poor, violent, repressive country ruled by greedy tyrants with the support of an entrenched elite - the archetypal banana republic. The media and scholarly studies consistently confirm that fair assessment of the social political, and economic reality. This volume contains a chronology; an introduction; an extensive bibliography, and more than 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities and aspects of the country's politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. It is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Guatemala.