“Students of Nicaragua will find this book useful for its documentation of the emergence of the Somoza regime, and its striking revisionist portrayal of the relationship between the Somoza power elite and popular struggles for land, workers' rights, and gradually, political power.” — Latin American Anthropology Review
“A rare book... an engaging ethnohistorical study of rural political protest in northwestern Nicaragua during this century.” — American Ethnologist
“In rich and extraordinary detail, Gould has presented a previously unexplored aspect of Nicaraguan political history, the existence of an active tradition of rural resistance … The view from Chinandega casts new light on both the Somocista state and on the Sandinista Revoulution, but most importantly, it introduces us the extraordinary lives and struggles of the campesinos ... This is a worthy companion to John Womack’s Zapata and the Mexican Revolution.” — William Roseberry, in International Labor and Working Class History
“Essential reading for anyone interested in Third World peasant or labor movements, and it makes a valuable contribution to understanding the origins of the Nicaraguan revolution.” — American Historical Review
“To Lead as Equals reconstructs, virtually from scratch, major features of modern Nicaraguan history with the use of oral testimony, sugar estate and newspaper records. . . . A remarkable achievement.” — Lowell Gudmundson, University of Oklahoma
“This is an outstanding piece of historical research and writing. The author has great sensitivity and respect for local ideology and culture. His use of oral historical sources is impeccable.” — Florencia E. Mallon, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“A welcome addition for students of both Nicaraguan history and of rural protest in Central America and beyond.” — Journal of Development Studies
“[Offers] new and compelling interpretations of key events and watersheds in Nicaraguan history.” — Journal of Latin American Studies
“Jeffrey Gould’s beautifully written and passionate work, To Lead As Equals, brings the rural people of the northwestern Nicaraguan department of Chinandega to life. . . . One of the most original studies of twentieth-century Latin American agrarian movements to be found.” — Journal of Peasant Studies
