The Regime of Anastasio Somoza, 1936-1956

Still, the standard and very readable work on Anastasio Somoza. It manages, at times, to make this monster perfectly human -- somewhat more charming than Nixon.

The book explains the long 20 year rule of Somoza in Nicaragua. Very detailed study of events that candidly most people outside the country could not care less about. An overall picture emerges of a minor nation largely insulated from the tumultuous events of the world. In part this was due to the backwardness of the country and the low level of integration into the global economy.The isolation also meant that Somoza had wide leeway in controlling many aspects of the country's politics and economy. For the latter, there seems to have been no overarching ideology. Though we see that even as dictator, he was concerned about the impact of inflation on the populace. There was also no personal income tax. Instead the government kept afloat mostly though customs duties on imports. The latter were typically finished goods from the US. The government also owned the railroad. This let it affect [ie. control] the profitability of the businesses involved in export or import.Most of the book goes into the political struggles. How leftists and some intellectuals sought to end Somoza's rule. It would take decades more, against his son.