Rigoberta Menchú

Abstract

In 1984, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchu published her autobiographical account of life in Guatemala under a military dictatorship to great acclaim. The book rapidly transformed the study and understanding of modern Guatemalan history. Since then, her memoir has increasingly become a target for rightwing historians and commentators seeking to discredit Menchu's account and to deny the genocide carried out by the Guatemalan military regime with US support. Greg Grandin, in this crucial accompaniment to Menchu's work, takes on her critics to set the story straight. He investigates the historical context and political realities that underlie Menchu's past and the ongoing debate surrounding it, in this substantial new work on Guatemalan history.