"Delving into Nicaragua's myth of mestizaje, Gould provides a powerful analysis of the political and cultural mechanisms that eradicated indigenous identity throughout Latin America. His careful analysis of indigenous cultural loss, unlike that of others, does not require an essentialist reading of indigenous culture."--Carol Smith, University of California at Davis

Jeffrey L. Gould is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Indiana University. He is the author of To Lead as Equals: Rural Protest and Political Consciousness in Chinandega, Nicaragua, 1912–1979.