"This is a brilliant and authoritative telling of one of our time's compelling dramas, the interplay of religion and politics in El Salvador over the last decades-sophisticated, complex and an absolute page-turner." —Tom Quigley, United Stated Catholic Conference "More than an account of the most horrifying events in the litany of human rights violations in the history of El Salvador, ... Read morethis book is an acute analysis of the political and military context in which it happened. Few books about El Salvador have dug as deep into the entrails of the Salvadoran reality, nor reflected as much access to major actors on all sides. Whitfield does not accept facile explanations, nor present the Jesuits as unidimensional. What she does do is demonstrate the impact of a few individuals who spoke out for justice in the face of massive inequalities and repeated threats. Ultimately their deaths contributed to an end to war in El Salvador and reinvigorated the struggle for basic human rights they held so dear." —Margaret E. Crahan, Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Power and the Political Process, Occidental College "This eloquent, masterful book evokes the causes and consequences of the heartless murders of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. I know of no other work which so richly or perceptively combines recent political history, theology, and biography to explain who the Jesuits were and why the armed forces set out coolly to eliminate them. The portrait of U.S. policy as it sought to protect the military is as riveting as it is disturbing." —Cynthia J. Arnson, Associate Director, Human Rights Watch/Americas Show Less