How Difficult It Is to Be God

The revolutionary war launched by Shining Path, a Maoist insurgency, was the most violent upheaval in modern Peru's history, claiming some 70,000 lives in the 1980s1990s and drawing widespread international attention. Yet for many observers, Shining Path's initial successes were a mystery. What explained its cult-like appeal, and what actually happened inside the Andean communities at war? In How Difficult It Is to Be GodCarlos Iván Degregorithe world's leading expert on Shining Path and the intellectual architect for Peru's highly regarded Truth and Reconciliation Commissionelucidates the movement's dynamics. An anthropologist who witnessed Shining Path's recruitment of militants in the 1970s, Degregori grounds his findings in deep research and fieldwork. He explains not only the ideology and culture of revolution among the insurgents, but also their capacity to extend their influence to university youths, Indian communities, and competing social and political movements. Making Degregori's most important book available to English-language readers for the first time, this translation includes a new introduction by the editor, historian Steve J. Stern, who analyzes the author's achievement, why it matters, and the debates it sparked. For anyone interested in Peru and Latin America's age of "dirty war," or in the comparative study of revolutions, Maoism, and human rights, this book will provide arresting new insights.

Carlos Ivn Degregori (1945-2011) was a distinguished Peruvian anthropologist at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos and the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos as well as a major public intellectual. Steve J. Stern is the Alberto Flores Galindo and Hildale Professor of History of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.