Life Is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua

by Roger N. Lancaster

An in-depth social analysis of a nation perplexed by political paradox and cultural flux reflects on the successes and failures of the Sandinista Revolution, the breakup of families, the struggles faced by female-headed households, and the transformation of the machismo culture.

Genres: Anthropology, Gender, Nonfiction, Academic, Latin American History, History

340 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Studies at George Mason University.

Reviews

[Mike]

This book is 70% great.

I don't really like that Lancaster repeatedly emphasized his Marxist identity. I have no problem with Marx, but this is a book about Nicaragua, not Roger Lancaster in Nicaragua. Also, the section on homosexual relations runs around in circles and could have been shortened.

Part II: Some Lives was fantastic as was "The Negro in the Family." Both of them exposed pieces of culture by using native's words. Love it.

[Reet]

I learned much from this book by Roger Lancaster: about life in a part of Managua during the contra war, about how our shameless country manipulated their economy to bring the (communist) Sandinistas to their knees, and a difference in machistas (like the one I unknowingly married) in El Norte and the ones in Latin America. Now I know why men like women to allow them anal sex. But you'll have to read this book as I did to find out. Thoroughly researched and informed.

[Liz]

One of the most compulsively readable ethnographies I've picked up in ages. Lancaster provides an amazing personalized, nuanced account of post-Sandinista Nicaragua, using personal anecdotes, journal excerpts, interviews, and more than a few drinking stories and gossip sessions. Although it's an anthropology monograph published by an academic press, this is one of those rare scholarly books with broad appeal. Also, for all of the anthropologists out there it, it is one of the best examples I've seen of how to write a reflexive, honest, ethnography - the relationships, concerns, power dynamics, politics, etc. Highly recommended.

[Javier Martinez]

I really like the cultural aspect of it. Life in Nicaragua and the different customs and traditions. Other parts were a lot of difficult lexicon and anthropology terms that rendered the chapter incomprehensible.

[Cate]

An anthropological look at one family in a Managuan neighborhood. It is very interesting and well written. I cannot speak to the author's anthropological skill, but it was a very interesting read.

[Jacob]

this is anthropology done right. done beautifully.