Reviews
"This collection of essays will bring to English-language readers the most comprehensive, most nuanced exploration of Shining Path--and of Peru during the last fifteen years--available."-- John Tutino, Georgetown University, "Steve J. Stern has prepared with utmost care a rich and satisfying intellectual banquet in Shining and Other Paths . . . . [M]asterfully crafted and satisfying . . . . Few edited volumes reflect such coherence and high quality across all the contributors. Steve Stern and his collaborators have produced a definitive contribution to scholarship that manages to satisfy quite completely our need to understand the radical movement that came so close to taking power in the early 1990s, as well as its enduring effects on Peruvian society and politics." - David Scott Palmer , Hispanic American Historical Review, "A brilliantly conceived and executed study of the guerrilla insurgency in Peru. . . . This is exactly the kind of historically grounded work on Shining Path that we have long lacked and happily now have."--Peter Klarn, George Washington University, "A brilliantly conceived and executed study of the guerrilla insurgency in Peru. . . . This is exactly the kind of historically grounded work on Shining Path that we have long lacked and happily now have."-Peter Klarén, George Washington University, Shining and Other Paths will be an indispensable text . . . as it provides one of the most comprehensive and well-documented explorations to date of the historical origins and development of Shining Path., This book unquestionably exceeds the editor's and contributors' expectations 'that the whole of the collaborative work is larger than the sum of its parts'. . . . The volume offers insightful and comprehensive analyses and interpretations of the most violent and destructive terrorist movement in the Americas. . . . The contributions are all uniformly valuable. . . . The excellent scholarship, style, editing, and translations all combine to make this one of the best volumes on the Shining Path available in English. Highly recommended for all readers. . . ., [G]athers important scholarly voices to demystify the Shining Path by locating it in relationship to other social and political processes through nuanced studies of specific issues and regions. . . . [A]n important and useful contribution to understanding a movement that for far more than a decade disastrously shook Peru and its scholarship., Shining and Other Paths , ably edited by Stern, presents analyses by U. S. scholars and several important Peruvian scholars and activists, some of whose work has never before been available in English. . . . [W]ide-ranging and detailed. . . ., " Shining and Other Paths will be an indispensable text . . . as it provides one of the most comprehensive and well-documented explorations to date of the historical origins and development of Shining Path." - Phillip Mauceri, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, "[G]athers important scholarly voices to demystify the Shining Path by locating it in relationship to other social and political processes through nuanced studies of specific issues and regions. . . . [A]n important and useful contribution to understanding a movement that for far more than a decade disastrously shook Peru and its scholarship." - David Knowlton, American Ethnologist, Steve J. Stern has prepared with utmost care a rich and satisfying intellectual banquet in Shining and Other Paths . . . . [M]asterfully crafted and satisfying . . . . Few edited volumes reflect such coherence and high quality across all the contributors. Steve Stern and his collaborators have produced a definitive contribution to scholarship that manages to satisfy quite completely our need to understand the radical movement that came so close to taking power in the early 1990s, as well as its enduring effects on Peruvian society and politics., "A brilliantly conceived and executed study of the guerrilla insurgency in Peru. . . . This is exactly the kind of historically grounded work on Shining Path that we have long lacked and happily now have."--Peter Klarén, George Washington University, "This book unquestionably exceeds the editor's and contributors' expectations 'that the whole of the collaborative work is larger than the sum of its parts'. . . . The volume offers insightful and comprehensive analyses and interpretations of the most violent and destructive terrorist movement in the Americas. . . . The contributions are all uniformly valuable. . . . The excellent scholarship, style, editing, and translations all combine to make this one of the best volumes on the Shining Path available in English. Highly recommended for all readers. . . ." - Choice, " Shining and Other Paths , ably edited by Stern, presents analyses by U. S. scholars and several important Peruvian scholars and activists, some of whose work has never before been available in English. . . . [W]ide-ranging and detailed. . . ." - Eric Selbin, Latin American Research Review, "This collection of essays will bring to English-language readers the most comprehensive, most nuanced exploration of Shining Path-and of Peru during the last fifteen years-available."- John Tutino, Georgetown University
Synopsis
Shining and Other Paths offers the first systematic account of the social experiences at the heart of the war waged between Shining Path and the Peruvian military during the 1980s and early 1990s. Confronting and untangling the many myths and enigmas that surround the war and the wider history of twentieth-century Peru, this book presents clear and often poignant analyses of the brutal reshaping of life and politics during a war that cost tens of thousands of lives. The contributors--a team of Peruvian and U.S. historians, social scientists, and human rights activists--explore the origins, social dynamics, and long-term consequences of the effort by Shining Path to effect an armed communist revolution. The book begins by interpreting Shining Path's emergence and decision for war as one logical culmination, among several competing culminations, of trends in oppositional politics and social movements. It then traces the experiences of peasants and refugees to demonstrate how human struggle and resilience came together in grassroots determination to defeat Shining Path, and explores the unsuccessful efforts of urban shantytown dwellers, as well as rural and urban activists, to build a "third path" to social justice. Integral to this discussion is an examination of women's activism and consciousness during the years of the crisis. Finally, this book analyzes the often paradoxical and unintended legacies of this tumultuous period for social and human rights movements, and for presidential and military leadership in Peru. Extensive field research, broad historical vision, and strong editorial coordination enable the authors to write a coherent and deeply humanistic account, one that draws out the inner tragedies, ambiguities, and conflicts of the war. Providing historically grounded explication of the conflicts that reshaped contemporary Peru, Shining and Other Paths will be widely read by Latin Americanists, historians, anthropologists, gender theorists, sociologists, political scientists, and human rights activists. Contributors . Jo-Marie Burt, Marisol de la Cadena, Isabel Coral Cordero, Carlos Iván Degregori, Iván Hinojosa, Carlos Basombrío Iglesias, Florencia E. Mallon, Nelson Manrique, Hortensia Muñoz, Enrique Obando, Patricia Oliart, Ponciano del Pino H., José Luis Rénique, Orin Starn, Steve J. Stern, Shining and Other Paths offers the first systematic account of the social experiences at the heart of the war waged between Shining Path and the Peruvian military during the 1980s and early 1990s. Confronting and untangling the many myths and enigmas that surround the war and the wider history of twentieth-century Peru, this book presents clear and often poignant analyses of the brutal reshaping of life and politics during a war that cost tens of thousands of lives. The contributors--a team of Peruvian and U.S. historians, social scientists, and human rights activists--explore the origins, social dynamics, and long-term consequences of the effort by Shining Path to effect an armed communist revolution. The book begins by interpreting Shining Path's emergence and decision for war as one logical culmination, among several competing culminations, of trends in oppositional politics and social movements. It then traces the experiences of peasants and refugees to demonstrate how human struggle and resilience came together in grassroots determination to defeat Shining Path, and explores the unsuccessful efforts of urban shantytown dwellers, as well as rural and urban activists, to build a "third path" to social justice. Integral to this discussion is an examination of women's activism and consciousness during the years of the crisis. Finally, this book analyzes the often paradoxical and unintended legacies of this tumultuous period for social and human rights movements, and for presidential and military leadership in Peru. Extensive field research, broad historical vision, and strong editorial coordination enable the authors to write a coherent and deeply humanistic account, one that draws out the inner tragedies, ambiguities, and conflicts of the war. Providing historically grounded explication of the conflicts that reshaped contemporary Peru, Shining and Other Paths will be widely read by Latin Americanists, historians, anthropologists, gender theorists, sociologists, political scientists, and human rights activists. Contributors . Jo-Marie Burt, Marisol de la Cadena, Isabel Coral Cordero, Carlos Iv n Degregori, Iv n Hinojosa, Carlos Basombr o Iglesias, Florencia E. Mallon, Nelson Manrique, Hortensia Mu oz, Enrique Obando, Patricia Oliart, Ponciano del Pino H., Jos Luis R nique, Orin Starn, Steve J. Stern, The first comprehensive study of the Shining Path, the Maoist sect of indigenous people who waged a a brutal war in Peru during the 1980s and early 1990s in an attempt to effect a Communist revolution .
