Louis Edgar Esparza is professor of sociology at California State University-Los Angeles.
Situated at the crossroad of social movement scholarship and Latin American Studies, a peak moment of political contention in Colombia's recent history is told with the accuracy of a social scientist, the vivid descriptions of an intrepid ethnographer and the empathy of a native son. --Gilda Zwerman, SUNY-Old Westbury This is a brilliant and entertaining study of rural Colombia, showing how invisible social networks actually work to spark political action, often suddenly and surprisingly. It combines poetic ethnographic observation with high-level theories of political action. --James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest