Social and political overview -- Guatemala : the revolution that failed -- Guatemala : a grim, complex war -- Guatemala : coups and elections -- Guatemala analysis : the more things change -- El Salvador : 50 years of solitude -- El Salvador : the Junta de Chompipes and afterward -- El Salvador : the time of troubles -- El Salvador analysis : contradictions and ambiguities -- Honduras : the essential banana republic -- Honduras : from coup to election -- Honduras : the eye of the storm -- Honduras analysis : illusions of progress -- Nicaragua : the Somoza era -- Nicaragua : the red and the black -- Nicaragua besieged -- Nicaragua analysis : the paradoxical revolution -- Conclusion : arms and the land -- Appendix: List of abbreviations for organizations.