NEW BOOK:
WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ?
BY GREG GRANDIN
PUBLISHED: 13TH MARCH 2011
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A new investigation into the Rigoberta Menchú controversy by historian and author of FORDLANDIA, Greg Grandin.
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In 1984, indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú published a harrowing account of life under military dictatorship in Guatemala. That autobiography, I RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ, transformed the study and understanding of modern Guatemalan history, became a fixture on reading lists worldwide, and brought its author international renown.
In 1992, Rigoberta Menchú received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work highlighting the oppression of indigenous peoples in Guatemala. After this, she became the subject of controversy when historians seeking to deny US complicity in the genocidal policies of the Guatemalan regime began attempting to discredit her testimony.
Greg Grandin is an award-winning historian and served on the UN Truth Commission investigating the Guatemalan Civil War. Now, after carrying out thorough and original research, Grandin tells the story of how an unlettered indigenous Guatemalan woman became the spokesperson for her people and clashed with the intellectual apologists of the world’s most powerful nation.
WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ? gives the definitive account of the controversy and corrects many of the lies and distortions about Rigoberta Menchú and her story, such as the assertion, published in the NEW YORK TIMES, that she had invented the brother who she claimed died of starvation.
The story of Rigoberta Menchú also has much to tell us about power, perception and race on the world stage. Comparing the treatment of Menchu’s writing to that of another Nobel Prize-winner, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Grandin argues that “this study in contrast, this double standard, in how the work of the learned Solzhenitsyn and the unlettered Menchu has been incorporated into the West’s moral education speaks volumes about the meaning and legacy of racism and the Cold War”
Including a substantive appendix, including excerpts from the UN Commission findings, WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ? delves deep into the historical context and political realities around the controversy, and is itself a substantial contribution to the study of modern Guatemalan history.
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Praise for I, RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ:
‘A fascinating and moving description of the culture of an entire people.’ – THE TIMES
‘An extraordinary document’ Francis Sejersted, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
‘A moving account of gruesome repression, gut-wrenching poverty and vicious racism – A call to conscience.’ THE NATION
Praise for FORDLANDIA:
'A case history combining some of the tragic elements of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness alongside the naive innocence of Conan Doyle's The Lost World ... An extraordinary tale of pride and stubbornness’ – DAILY TELEGRAPH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7045088/Fordlandia-the-Rise-and-Fall-of-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle-City-by-Greg-Grandin.html
'Grandin's generous, pin-sharp book - is, above all, a tale of Ozymandian hubris.' – SUNDAY TIMES
'Fascinating ... haunting ... Conrad's Heart of Darkness resonates on every page.' – NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Macintyre-t.html
A genuinely readable history recounted with a novelist's sense of pace and an eye for character... engrossingly enjoyable.' – LOS ANGELES TIMES
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/24/entertainment/et-rutten24
'Riveting' – WALL STREET JOURNAL
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204456604574208683933655384.html
FORDLANDIA has just been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography.
http://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/tait-black/shortlist
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GREG GRANDIN is the author of EMPIRE’S WORKSHOP, THE LAST COLONIAL MASSACRE, WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ?, the award-winning THE BLOOD OF GUATEMALA, and the 2009 National Book Awards finalist FORDLANDIA. A professor of history at New York University and a Guggenheim fellow, Grandin has served on the United Nations Truth Commission investigating the Guatemalan Civil War and has written for the LOS ANGELES TIMES, NATION, NEW STATESMAN, and NEW YORK TIMES.
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ISBN: 978 1 84467 458 9 / $26.95 / £16.99 / $33.50 CAN / Paperback / 176 pages
ISBN: 978 1 84467 458 9 / $95 / £60 / $118.50 CAN / Hardback / 176 pages
Shrinkwrapped set: WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ? and I, RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
ISBN: 978-1-84467-482-4 / $39.95 / £25 / $50 CAN / Paperback
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For more information about WHO IS RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ? or to buy the book visit:
http://www.versobooks.com/books/520-who-is-rigoberta-menchu
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