Salvador Witness: The Life and Calling of Jean Donovan by Ana Carrigan. Simon and Schuster, 317 pp. $16.95 (cloth). As author Carrigan describes Jean Donovan, she was a mischievous, domineering tomboy who grew up in the well-insulated conservatism of suburban Connecticut. She entered a college exchange program in Ireland still a quite overbearing and competi- tive person. But it was there, Carrigan intimates, that Donovan, somehow awakened by her dismal, working- class and fervently Catholic surround- ings, began the spiritual transforma- tion that eventually took her to El Sal- vador. Her deep friendship with Mi- chael Crowley, an Irish priest who had worked in the slums of Peru and Harlem, also helped turn her religion, previously relegated to regular but un- inspired Church attendance, into a calling. Within a few years, Donovan aban- doned a high-paid but unfulfilling job to become a lay missionary for the Maryknoll order. She arrived in El Salvador just as the violence was first hitting the international headlines-na- turally bewildered, increasingly fright- ened, but intent on living out her vo- cation. Ana Carrigan co-produced the a- ward-winning film, "Roses in Decem- ber," and the NBC-TV film, "Choices of the Heart," chronicling the life of Jean Donovan, and her death in El Salvador with three other U.S. Church- women. This is a fascinating book, sometimes harrowing, and ultimately moving. The Honduras-Nicaragua Conflict and Prospects for Arms Control in Central America by Jozef Goldblat and Victor Millan. Taylor & Francis Inc., 37pp. (paper). This pamphlet is reprinted from the 1984 edition of the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Insti- tute) Yearbook. The authors state that from 1979-1983, the overall military spending of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica increased by over 50% in real terms. Since 1970, the total number of military personnel has almost tripled, with sig- nificant shifts toward paramilitary forces trained in counterinsurgency-- and most weapons stockpiled are for police and counterinsurgency mis- sions. The authors focus on the dramatic militarization of Honduras and on the large-scale, U.S.-Hondu- ran Big Pine operations as a key de- velopment in the region in this well- documented compendium of arsenals. A Special Report on the IUF Trade Union Delegation on the Occupa- tion of the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Guatemala. North American Re- gional Organization of the IUF, 21 pp. (paper). Copies from the IUF, Suite 408, 815 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. On February 18, 1984, the 460 workers of Guatemala City's Coca- Cola bottling plant were informed that the business was bankrupt and would close the next day. Suspecting that the bankruptcy had been deliberately eng- ineered, the workers' union took the dangerous step of occupying the plant until Coca-Cola fulfilled its contrac- tual obligations. (In 1980, the com- pany secured new owners to replace former management, which allegedly conspired in the severe repression of the union. It agreed to control the plant via the new managers, ensuring union privileges, for five years.) On March 25, 1984, a North Amer- ican trade union delegation travelled to Guatemala on a fact-finding mis- sion. Their findings, expressing ex- treme concern for the safety of the Guatemalan trade unionists, are pub- lished in this report. The Miskitos in Nicaragua 1981- 1984, An Americas Watch Report. Americas Watch Committee, 60pp. $5 (cloth). Americas Watch has monitored the situation of the Miskito Indians on Ni- caragua's Atlantic coast since 1982, and has researched the case on each of five fact-finding missions. Following the 1979 revolution, the culturally iso- lated Miskitos quickly came to resent Sandinista hegemony, and resisted the government's integration programs, leading to altercations between the government and the indigenous or- ganization, Misurasata. This report examines the ensuing conflicts, forced relocations and Mis- kito-contra collaboration, and con- cludes that while the government has committed serious rights abuses, the situation is not irreconcilable. It also calls on the contras and on the United States to end their provocations in the dispute. The President's War Powers: From the Federalists to Reagan edited by Demetrios Caraley. The Academy of Political Science, 204 pp. $7.95 (pa- per). Copies from the Academy, 2852 Broadway, New York, NY 10025. The president has the right to repel attacks against the United States or against its armed forces. Congress has the exclusive authority to formally declare war. As Professor Demetri- os Caraley states in his preface to The President's War Powers, the long-simmering controversy over who holds ultimate, wartime, decision-mak- ing power has centered on the presi- dent's right to use military force to further American interests-essen- tially a political consideration-in in- cidents of undeclared warfare. These essays, reprinted from the Political Science Quarterly, trace the debate from the eighteenth century. The closing essay, by Walter La- Feber, is adapted from his book, In- evitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America and looks at President Reagan's positions vis-a-vis the region's conflicts. El Salvador in Crisis by Philip L. Russell. Colorado River Press, 165pp. $9.95 (paper). Copies from the publisher, Box 7547, Austin, TX 78713. Philip Russell has written a strik- ingly comprehensive history of El Sal- vador. This book sweeps from the days of Spanish conquest and coloni- alism through the economic booms, crashes, wars and coups of the last three centuries to the more familiar events of the last two decades. Russell has drawn from a wealth of material to write what is an excellent primer for anyone seeking a thorough introduc- tion to El Salvador.
