The Shining Path

February 15, 2019
Drawing on Peruvian government archives, two scholars recount the fortunes of a headline-grabbing Peruvian guerrilla movement.It's never a good idea to join a political party founded by college professors, who think in coldblooded abstractions. Such was certainly the case with Abimael Guzmán, who, in 1980, founded Shining Path, a Maoist-with-deviations gang in which his wife and other women took leadership roles. As Starn (Cultural Anthropology/Duke Univ.; The Passion of Tiger Woods: An Anthropologist Reports on Golf, Race, and Celebrity Scandal, 2011, etc.) and La Serna (History/Univ. of North Carolina; The Corner of the Living: Ayacucho on the Eve of the Shining Path Insurgency, 2012, etc.) show, there wasn't much questioning of the supreme leader, who took the curious path of attacking peasants as well as government troops. For its part, the Peruvian government, which, under Alberto Fujimori, was certainly corrupt enough to merit a revolution, committed atrocities of its own even while preparing for the day of Guzmán's fall by building a maximum security prison intended just for him. Of interest to literary historians is the go-between investigative work of the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who emerged from events disgusted enough to quit politics and move to Spain. "The citizenship change, Fujimori taunted, showed that his globe-trotting rival had never been a real Peruvian in the first place," write the authors, though Vargas Llosa had his revenge by winning the Nobel Prize a few years later. Guzmán was eventually caught and imprisoned, ending Shining Path's most active period. The authors do a fair job of recounting events, though often ham-fistedly: The fact that Silence of the Lambs was playing in Lima movie theaters at the time does not qualify Guzmán for the sobriquet "Peru's own Hannibal Lecter," and it's a bit overblown to throw in the gruesome torture of rebel leader Túpac Amaru two centuries earlier as evidence for how comparatively easy the "white doctor and...celebrity prisoner" Guzmán had it.Shining Path was significant enough to warrant a better book at the hands of someone like Mark Bowden. For the moment, however, this adequate one will do.

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July 1, 2019
This captivating work traces the story of the Shining Path, the communist guerrilla insurgency that erupted in Peru in the 1980s. Anthropologist Starn (Ishi’s Brain) and historian La Serna (The Corner of the Living) detail how the organization—motivated by “that great Communist longing to redeem humanity from misery and injustice”—ignited a rural rebellion to destroy the capitalist system. With “frightful cruelty and mad illusions of victory,” the group unleashed a wave of terror—bombings, sabotage, assassinations, and massacres. The Peruvian military and police reacted with an equally brutal counterinsurgency involving torture, killings, and indiscriminate massacres. The conflict spread to the capital and throughout the country, and the civilian population found itself in the crosshairs. The authors highlight Abimael Guzmán, the polite and charismatic academic turned “Communist warrior–philosopher king” who spearheaded the revolutionary movement and espoused an uncompromising Marxism. The other primary figures include Augusta La Torre, Guzmán’s wife, who helped him lead the insurrection and who died during the war; Elena Iparaguirre, another high-level rebel whom Guzmán subsequently fell in love with; and Gustavo Gorriti, a journalist covering the Shining Path. Interviews with Iparaguirre add insight. The authors skillfully weave a noteworthy story of violence and drama.

Starred review from April 1, 2019
In the summer of 1986, a train filled with tourists from all over the world exploded, bringing international attention to a group of brutal fanatics that had been plaguing the Peruvian government and people for several years, namely the Shining Path or Sendero Luminoso. Anthropologist Starn and historian La Serna set this somewhat anachronistic movement in its sad place along the trajectory of worldwide communist uprisings, erupting as it did at a time when most leftist movements were seeking relevancy by letting go of hard-line stances. This vivid, gritty, sometimes gruesome, yet touching narrative history covers the complete spectrum of players and survivors, from humble Andean villagers to the illustrious Nobel laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa. This is an agile and meticulously researched book that contains fascinating revelations about, for example, the strength and resourcefulness the villagers found to navigate delicate, potentially deadly situations in which they were vulnerable to both the senderistas and government soldiers. Starn and La Serna have created a timely reminder of the dangers of inflexible dogma and an important work that belongs in every collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2019

Now largely forgotten outside South America, the Shining Path (Sendero luminoso) remains a Communist revolutionary group in Peru, espousing Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and waging a guerrilla war to overthrow the state since 1980. Twelve years of bloodshed ensued but violence plummeted after the detention of Shining Path's leader, former philosophy professor Abimael Guzm�n, in 1992. Starn (cultural anthropology, Duke Univ.) and La Serna (history, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) document the war's charismatic personalities and terrible cost through human stories. Front and center are Guzm�n, his lieutenants and lovers Augusta La Torre and Elena Iparraguirre, who commanded operations and enforced gender parity among the guerrillas. Stories include those of Mar�a Elena Moyano, an Afro-Peruvian community organizer assassinated by Shining Path; and Marco Miyashiro and Benedicto Jim�nez, who led the manhunt for Guzm�n. This new history is long overdue after Gustavo Gorriti's The Shining Path or Steve Stern's Shining and Other Paths, but future historians may wish to contextualize Shining Path in relation to other leftist rebels who emerged or endured after the fall of the Soviet Union. VERDICT Meticulously researched and broadly appealing--the best popular history yet of the Shining Path. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/18.]--Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs

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