Guatemalans have known for a year and a half now that she has called her first book "not my story" and is trying to separate from it, but not one major international newspaper reported on this public announcement. Why? I still hold in my hands a letter I was going to send to the NY Times, complete with backup newspaper clippings to prove my point. I was going to exhort the NY Times to really look at this whole situation with journalistic objectivity, not bandwagon political correctness. I'm pleased to see David Stoll has finally done the objective work that needed to be done regarding Rigoberta's story.

I was a teenager in Guatemala during the 80's and the political situation touched all, rich and poor alike. Both sides (the government/miliatry and the guerillas)were at fault and did their share of crimes against human dignity and rights. Now, we need to move foward and find the way to put these issues where they belong (in the past) and focus on acquiring the skills and captial that we, as a country, need to compete in the global economy.

The complexity and uniqueness of Guatemala requires the same kind of approach when learning more about it. A good example is that the indian groups were at war with each other way before the Spanairds ever set foot in Guatemala. Why has no one considered this when looking at the roots of Guatemala's underlying psyche?

We are not a cut and dry society and a little more effort on understanding us and what the real issues are goes a long way before supporting "figures" emerging from our country. These "figures" may not be telling the entire, objective story and who continue to perpetuate certain stereotypes that uninformed outsiders believe wholeheartedly and to greater chagrin, incorporate into academic curriculum in institutions of higher learning.

Ana Luisa Aldana


Boo!   January 21, 1999
I was not impressed and I am very disappointed. It felt like canablistic journalism. The comparison of Stoll to Star was the most accurate thing I have heard. I am ashamed that he can call himself an athropologist. Anthropologist's usually have more respect for other cultures. I hope the damage Stoll created with this book doesn't result in the loss of more lives in Guatemala.


A devastating piece of detective work   December 16, 1998
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is critical inquiry at its best. Stoll acknowledges the hardships that his eponymous subject has undergone - but systematically and with a patient determination reveals that much of her supposed autobiographical account contained in "I, Rigoberta Menchu" is fabricated. The awful truth, now that this finding has been published, is that Miss Menchu's defenders are already claiming that the dishonesty of her account is of no consequence, because her words are "metaphorically true". Thus do the notions of historical truth and disinterested inquiry become subordinated to the needs of a partisan political agenda - and the ideals of a liberal society are the victim. We must hope that Miss Menchu has the honesty, and the sense of shame, to return her Nobel prize, which was demonstrably awarded on false pretences.