A Call to Conscience: The Anti-Contra War Campaign(Culture, Politics, and the Cold War)

Unlike earlier U.S. interventions in Latin America, the Reagan administration’s attempt to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua during the 1980s was not allowed to proceed quietly. Tens of thousands of American citizens organised and agitated against U.S. aid to the counterrevolutionary guerrillas, known as “contras.” Believing the Contra War to be unnecessary, immoral, and illegal, they challenged the administration’s Cold War stereotypes, warned of “another Vietnam,” and called on the United States to abide by international norms. A Call to Conscience offers the first comprehensive history of the anti–Contra War campaign and its Nicaragua connections. Roger Peace places this eight-year campaign in the context of previous American interventions in Latin America, the Cold War, and other grassroots oppositional movements. Based on interviews with American and Nicaraguan citizens and leaders, archival records of activist organisations, and official government documents, this book reveals activist motivations, analyses the organisational dynamics of the anti–Contra War campaign, and contrasts perceptions of the campaign in Managua and Washington. Peace shows how a variety of civic groups and networks—religious, leftist, peace, veteran, labour, women’s rights—worked together in a decentralised campaign that involved extensive transnational cooperation.

About the Author :
Roger Peace is adjunct professor of history at Tallahassee Community College.

Review :
"A ground-breaking book. If a hundred years from now the anti-Contra War movement is included on the list of significant American protest movements, there is no question this book will be a major reason why. It clarifies our vision of the 1980s, refutes the dominant Reagan triumphalism, and shows contemporary America to be just as fraught with protest as the 1960s."--Andrew E. Hunt, author of The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War "The new book by Prof. Roger Peace, A Call to Conscience: The Anti-Contra War Campaign, is an important contribution to recording the true history of the era, unsullied by US government and media lies and disinformation. As such, I would recommend it as reading for the Occupy Movement for its lessons on how a decentralized movement can be made strong enough to stop a very motivated president (Ronald Reagan) from sending US troops to invade another country (Nicaragua)."--Alliance for Global Justice "[A Call to Conscience] describes among other things, how transnational activities stimulated grassroots activism, how peace and leftist solidarity groups managed to cooperate in the Central American movement, and the development of former Fellowship of Reconciliation director Don Mosley's "Walk in Peace" project in Nicaragua."--International Fellowship of Reconciliation "What Roger Peace, adjunct professor of history at Tallahassee Community College, does very well in A Call to Conscience is remind Americans about a largely forgotten past when antiwar religious and secular groups, despite their many differences, dared challenge the Reagan administration's proxy war in Nicaragua aimed at defeating a left-wing government."--History News Network "A valuable book. . . . Peace's book is the best book yet written on Reagan's antagonists in this, his most frustrating stalemate. It is well worth reading for those seeking to rethink the 1980s as something more than the 'Reagan era.'"--American Historical Review "Peace has set the historical template; it is time for other scholars to pick up this story and shed intellectual light on an often-ignored protest movement."--The Journal of American History "Most impressive is the number of interviews that Peace did for this work. Peace interviewed over eighty individuals, U.S. citizens and Nicaraguans, providing a personal look into the movement and its impact and influence in both nations. . . . Peace's focus on the movement against the Contra War and his descriptions of work that was done both on the local and national levels throughout the United States makes it a unique and valuable contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of peace movements and to the willingness of some to put their consciences into action."--H-Diplo "[A]n excellent narrative on one of the major social movements of the 1980s. It is very well researched and relies on an abundance of sources, ranging from government documents to interviews with over 80 different individuals. All readers, from specialists to the general public, will find it is a very useful book. It is certainly worth consideration for use in any appropriate undergraduate course."--Hispanic American History Review "What makes this book so highly readable is that Peace highlights the roles fo some remarkable individuals, most of whose actions and lives would otherwise go unremembered."--Peace Change "Especially commendable is Peace's coverage of the coordinated efforts of the national, state, and local anti-Contra organizations and the politics of transnational solidarity in the anti-Contra campaign. . . . Peace's book is an outstanding study that should provide valuable lessons for those who both today and in the future are troubled by U.S. military interventions around the world."--The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History "Roger Peace provides solid coverage of the issues, movements, and dynamics around American involvement in Nicaragua during the latter part of the 20th century, both for the 'interested public' and for scholars."--Peace and Justice Studies