
Finalist, Canada Prize in the Humanities, 2015
Winner, Best Book 2013-2016, Canadian Association of Hispanists
Sandino’s Nation
Ernesto Cardenal and Sergio Ramírez Writing Nicaragua, 1940-2002
During the Sandinista Revolution of 1979-1990, Cardenal, apppointed Nicaragua’s minister of culture, became one of the most provocatibe and internationally recognized figures of liberation theology, while Ramírez, a member of the revolutionary junta, and later elected vice-president of Nicaragua, emerged as an authoritative figure for third world nationalism. But before all else, the two were groundbreaking creative writers. Through a close reading of the works by Nicaragua’s two best-known and prolific modern authors, Sandino’s Nation studies the construction of Nicaraguan national identity during three distinct periods of the country’s recent history—before, during and after the 1979-1990 revolution.
Stephen Henighan offers rigorous textual analyses of poems, memoirs, essays, and novels, interwoven with a sharply narrated history of Nicaragua. The only comprehensive study of the careers of Cardenal and Ramírez, Sandino’s Nation is essential to understanding transformations to both Nicaragua and the role of the writer in Latin America.