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Zusatztext This work secures a solid place among some of the dominant works in modern Latin American historiography, particularly in its positioning within the field of subaltern studies. While remaining sensitive to the voice and agency of the victims of the genocide, Garrard- Burnett relies heavily on truth commission reports to provide a clear analysis of the influences of evangelical rhetoric that saturated Guatemala's violent struggles of the late Cold War. This useful,insightful work deserves a wide reading among students and specialists alike.. Informationen zum Autor Garrard Burnett is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin Klappentext Between 1982 and 1983, in the name of anti-communism the military government of Guatemala prosecuted a scorched-earth campaign of terror against largely Mayan rural communities. Under the leadership of General Efrain Rios Montt, tens of thousands of people perished in what is now known as la violencia, or 'the Mayan holocaust.' Rios Montt, Guatemala's president-by-coup was, and is, an outspokenly born-again Pentecostal Christian and many Guatemalans converted toPentecostalism during this period, as Garrard-Burnett argues, because of the affinity between these churches' apocalyptic message and the violence of their everyday reality.Drawing on newly-available primary sources such as guerrilla documents, evangelical pamphlets, speech transcripts, and declassifiedUS government records, Garrard-Burnett is able to provide a fine-grained picture of what happened during Rios Montt's rule. Zusammenfassung Between 1982 and 1983, in the name of anti-communism the military government of Guatemala prosecuted a scorched-earth campaign of terror against largely Mayan rural communities. Under the leadership of General Efrain Rios Montt, tens of thousands of people perished in what is now known as la violencia, or 'the Mayan holocaust.' Rios Montt, Guatemala's president-by-coup was, and is, an outspokenly born-again Pentecostal Christian - a fact that would seem to be at oddswith the atrocities that took place on his watch. Virginia Garrard-Burnett's book is the first in English to view the Rios Montt era through the lens of history. Drawing on newly-available primary sources such as guerrilla documents, evangelical pamphlets, speech transcripts, and declassified USgovernment records, she is able to provide a fine-grained picture of what happened during Rios Montt's rule. Looking back over Guatemalan history between 1954 and the late 1970s, she finds that three decades of war engendered an ideology of violence that cut across class, cultures, communities, religions, and even families. Many Guatemalans converted to Pentecostalism during this period, she says, because of the affinity between these churches' apocalyptic message and the violence of theireveryday reality. Examining the role of outside players and observers: The US government, evangelical groups, and the media, she contends that self-interest, willful ignorance, and distraction permitted the human rights tragedies within Guatemala to take place without challenge from the outsideworld....
