Books 1. Bernardo and the Virgin (Latino Voices) by Silvio Sirias
Nicaragua Suggested Reading List Books
1. Bernardo and the Virgin (Latino Voices) by Silvio Sirias Silvio Sirias' sweeping novel tells many stories: that of a humble man touched by the transcendent; that same man as a devout boy denied the priesthood because of poverty; and those in his orbit, past and present. It is also the stormy epic of Nicaragua through the long Somoza years to the Sandinista revolution.
2. The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War by Giaconda Belli (Our Favorite Recommended) Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of country clubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage and motherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growing dissatisfaction with domestic life, and a blossoming awareness of the social inequities in Nicaragua, led her to join the Sandinistas, then a burgeoning but still hidden organization. She would be involved with them over the next twenty years at the highest, and often most dangerous, levels.
3. Blood of Brother: Life and War in Nicaragua by Stephen Kinzer In 1976, at age twenty-five, Stephen Kinzer arrived in Nicaragua as a freelance journalist--and became a witness to history. He returned many times during the years that followed, becoming Latin America correspondent for the Boston Globe in 1981 and joining the foreign staff of the New York Times in 1983. That year he opened the New York Times Managua bureau, making that newspaper Blood of Brothers is Kinzer's dramatic story of the centuries-old power struggle that burst into the headlines in 1979 with the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship. It is a vibrant portrait of the Nicaraguan people and their volcanic land, a cultural history rich in poetry and bloodshed, baseball and insurrection.
4. The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie Rushdie went to Nicaragua in 1986, harboring no preconceptions of what he might find. What he discovered was overwhelming: a culture of heroes who had turned into inanimate objects and of politicians and warriors who were poets; a land of difficult, often beautiful contradictions.
5. Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle by Thomas W. Walker The fourth addition details the country’s unique history, culture, social reality, economics, foreign relations, and politics. Its historical coverage considers Nicaragua from before independence as well as during the nationalist liberal era, the US marine occupation, the Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinista regime, and the conservative restoration following 1990.
6. Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution by Matilde Zimmerman Sandinista is the first English-language biography of Carlos Fonseca Amador, the legendary leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua (the FSLN) and the most important and influential figure of the post–1959 revolutionary generation in Latin America. Fonseca, killed in battle in 1976, was the undisputed intellectual and strategic leader of the FSLN
7.The Death of Ben Linder: the story of a North American in Sandinista Nicaragua by Joan Kruckewitt In 1987, the death of Ben Linder, the first American killed by President Reagan's "freedom fighters" -- the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras -- ignited a firestorm of protest and debate. In this landmark first biography of Linder, investigative journalist Joan Kruckewitt tells his story.
Nicaragua News: http://www.laprensa.com.ni/ http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/?gclid=CJrUyJjNtbwCFZRr7AodGH8A6g http://www.nicaraguadispatch.com/ (English Nicaraguan News Paper)
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua
Culture: (books) Culture and Customs of Nicaragua: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Nicaragua Nicaraguan Recipes: http://www.whats4eats.com/central-america/nicaragua-cuisine Bailes nicaragüenses: http://www.taringa.net/posts/info/14973876/Bailes-Tipicos-y-Cultura- Nicarag-ense.html
General Websites: Esteli: http://vianica.com/nicaragua/esteli