Essays analyze the policies of the United States government toward El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and the other countries of Central America.

INCLUDES INDEX.

Central America today: a study in regional dependency /Edelberto Torres-Rivas -- Reagan and Central America: strategy through a fractured lens / Luis Maira -- Liberation and revolution: Christianity as a subversive activity in Central America / Tommie Sue Montgomery -- Reactionary despotism in El Salvador: an impediment to democratic transition / Enrique A. Baloyra -- Revolution and crisis in Nicaragua / Richard Fagen -- State violence and agrarian crisis in Guatemala: the roots of the Indian-peasant rebellion / Shelton H. Davis -- Guatemala: social change and political conflict / Lars Schöultz -- Honduras: on the border of war / Steven Volk -- Epilogue: America's backyard / Günter Grass.