Choice Review

A fascinating book for those interested in the "nuts and bolts" of postrevolutionary Sandinista Nicaragua. It tracks the social, political, and economic activities of the William Diaz Romero barrio in Managua from 1986 to 1992. The authors introduce the idea of ethnographic praxis, i.e., "the combining of ethnographic analysis, the dynamics of participant observation, applied anthropology, and for us, a critical advocacy with the groups with which one is working." The chapter on field methods is excellent because it reviews traditional approaches to fieldwork as well as the authors' own synthetic postmodernist model. In Chapter 3, they present data on the economy of households within the barrio, with a few selected examples that provide excellent data on consumption. The chapter on the local CDS (Sandinista Defense Committee) and political issues within the barrio is fascinating because the authors attempt to follow the effect of an outside policy change on the local situation. The chapter on external relations will interest those studying formal organizations in postrevolutionary situations and medical anthropologists, as well. A map of the barrio would help the reader, as would more concrete examples of "ethnographic praxis." All in all, the authors provide a good picture of ordinary folk in postrevolutionary Nicaragua. General; undergraduate; graduate; faculty. F. O. Loveland; Gettysburg College