The Zapatista Reader

February 11, 2002
Collecting essays, interviews, articles and letters that center on a Latin American guerilla revolution and its hero, Subcomandante Marcos, this anthology is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the movement born in 1983 as the National Zapatista Liberation Army. As Hayden, a California state senator and the author of Irish on the Inside,
writes in his introduction, largely because of Marcos, there is "a diary, a poetry, an intellectual account" of the struggles of southern Mexico's indigenous communities to preserve their lands and their rights. Hayden's thoughtful volume is divided into three sections: eyewitness accounts of the movement's most spectacular display (on Jan. 1, 1994, 3,000 Zapatistas took control of six large towns and hundreds of smaller ranches in response to the implementation of NAFTA); the poetic writings of Marcos; and a series of essays by political and intellectual leaders reflecting on the Zapatistas. Since the 1994 uprising, skirmishes between the Mexican government and the Zapatistas have continued—lives are lost and lands are stolen, returned and stolen again—but the U.S. media reports little of these affairs. This neglect has encouraged Latin American and European journalists and writers to step forward, their imaginations caught up with what many consider to be one of the last revolutions of and for the people. José Saramago, Gabriel García Márquez, Octavio Paz and Eduardo Galeano all weigh in on the insurgency and its mysterious and charismatic leader; it is these essays, along with Marcos's letters and speeches, that make this collection a worthy addition to the canon of Latin and South American literature as well as a valuable historical text.

March 15, 2002
In June 2001, President Vicente Fox declared that the revolutionary conflict in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas was over and that the world should focus on other challenges facing Mexico. Hayden, a longtime civil rights activist and former California state senator, doesn't agree. In his introduction, he suggests that, despite the worldwide disintegration of the traditional Left during the last decade, the message of revolution is back owing to the Zapatista movement. This movement has set an example by breaking with the traditional Left and focusing not on the transfer of political power but on the protection and continuance of native culture and tradition. Collected here are short articles about the Zapatista movement taken primarily from translated newspaper articles, documents, and a few unpublished works written by many cultural and political writers from Latin America and the rest of the world, including Jos Saramago, Ilan Stavans, Elena Poniatowska, and Enrique Krauze. Much of what is included is not easily available in the United States and will be of value to libraries with Latin American collections. Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2002
This is a sprawling work that serves as both a primer to, and advanced analysis of, the Zapatista revolution. The contributors include literary luminaries (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), participants (Subcomandante Marcos), and journalists. Edited by longtime leftie Tom Hayden, a Progressive California state senator who was once a member of Students for a Democratic Society, the material is predictably sympathetic and left-leaning. Though it is also moving and exciting, this is not propaganda. Particularly interesting are passages that claim the forces of globalization made the revolt in impoverished Chiapas inevitable, posing "a genuine death sentence for a way of life." Furthermore, in an age when the planet seems to lack many clear-cut conflicts--when guerrillas are likely to be as corrupt as the governments they war against--the " Reader" helps us understand the romantic appeal the Zapatistas hold for so many. They express themselves eloquently; conduct themselves with dignity; and fight, not for power, but for self-preservation. There is a liveliness and intellectualism to this compilation that has been missing from accounts in the mainstream media.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)