From Publishers Weekly From late 1985 through much of '86， with a return trip to Nicaragua in 1988， the author， who is fluent in Spanish， wandered throughout Central America， immersing himself in the life of the region， interacting with "anyone， high or low， who cared to talk to me": government officials， revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries， philosophers and poets， police chiefs and political prisoners， religious leaders and fellow Catholics. Sheehan's ( The Arabs， the Israelis and Kissinger ) attitude toward the church， suffering and redemption is very much in the Graham Greene tradition. Droves of homeless children， for many of whom he bought meals， populate the book ("You can't save them， but you can feed them."). A former U.S. foreign service officer with experience in Third World countries， he was unsurprised but deeply disturbed in his visits to places where "misery is the norm" and torture is "a growth industry." Nicaragua is Sheehan's special interest， although he writes illuminatingly about conditions in Guatemala and El Salvador. Arguing that the Reagan administration is guilty of war crimes against the people of Nicaragua， he describes how the Sandinistas and the contras have wrought much harm against them as well. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal After touring and interviewing in the war zones of Central America， the author offers little hope for the oppressed. Bad government is certainly not new there， but even the Communist government of Nicaragua is mild compared to the bloodthirsty regimes to its north. Who bears the blame for the mess? The author comes down hard on U.S. foreign policy， but， in the end， economic servitude to the United States becomes secondary to local misjudgment. All that Reagan's policy has really accomplished is to unite more firmly the fronts against the United States. For scholarly collections， a better book is Confronting Revolution: Security Through Diplomacy in Central America， edited by Morris Blachman and William LeoGrande (Pantheon， 1986) ; this is a good choice for general readers.- Louis Leonard， Univ. of Florida Lib.， GainesvilleCopyright 1989 Reed Business Information， Inc.