Research Catalog

My car in Managua

Title
My car in Managua / Forrest D. Colburn ; illustrations by Róger Sánchez Flores.
Author
Colburn, Forrest D.
Publication
Austin : University of Texas Press, [1991].
Supplementary Content
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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library HMR 95-2413Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xi, 135 pages : illustrations; 23 cm
Summary
Histories of revolutions often focus on military, political, or economic upheavals but sometimes neglect to connect these larger events to the daily lives of "ordinary" people. Yet the peoples' perception that "things are worse than before" can topple revolutionary governments, as shown by the recent defeat of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua and the governments of Eastern Europe. Providing the kind of prosaic, revealing details that more formal histories have excluded, My Car in Managua offers an objective, often humorous description of the great difficulties and occasional pleasures of life in Nicaragua during the Sandinista revolution. During a year's work (1985-1986) at the Instituto Centroamericano de Administracion de Empresas (INCAE), Forrest Colburn purchased a dilapidated car--and with it an introduction to everyday life in Nicaragua. His discoveries of the length of time required to register the car (approximately six weeks), the impossibility of finding spare parts (except when U.S. dollars were applied to the search), and the fact that "anyone getting into a car in Managua can be charged a small fee [for car watching] by anyone else" all suggest the difficulties most Nicaraguans faced living in a devastated economy. Drawing on experiences from visits throughout the revolutionary period (1979-1989), Colburn also sheds light on how the Revolution affected social customs and language, gender roles and family relationships, equality and authority, the availability of goods and services, the status of ethnic minorities, and governmental and other institutions. Illustrations by Nicaragua's celebrated political cartoonist Roger Sanchez Flores enliven the lucid text.
Subjects
Note
  • "Parts of this opusculum were published in Harper's, Condé Nast's Traveler, The New Leader, Caribbean Review, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly"--Title page verso.
Call Number
HMR 95-2413
ISBN
  • 9780292751248
  • 0292751249
  • 0292751230
  • 9780292751231
LCCN
90035718
OCLC
21447521
Author
Colburn, Forrest D.
Title
My car in Managua / Forrest D. Colburn ; illustrations by Róger Sánchez Flores.
Imprint
Austin : University of Texas Press, [1991].
Edition
1st ed.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
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Chronological Term
Since 1979
Research Call Number
HMR 95-2413
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