No book in any language equals The Church, Dictatorships, and Democracy in Latin America for its comparative breadth. Historians, social scientists, and general readers will cull from it the conditions needed for the church to play a positive and creative role in furthering human rights and democracy. -John A. Coleman, SJ Loyola Marymount University Jeffrey Klaiber's book offers a wonderfully informative history of the Church's role in Latin American struggles to defend human rights and achieve democracy. Anyone who has followed with concern and interest these recent struggles-from military dictatorships in Brazil and Chile, through the violent conflicts in Central America, to the most recent struggles in Chiapas, Mexico-will find this remarkably comprehensive study of eleven different nations an invaluable text. -Arthur F. McGovern, SJ University of Detroit This volume provides readers with the first comprehensive view of the church during a defining period of Latin American history. This is an invaluable study by a longtime and astute observer. -Edward L. Cleary, OP Providence College A compelling account of the role of the church during the dictatorships and internal wars in eleven countries of Latin America . . . by an eminent historian. -Gerald H. Anderson Director of Overseas Ministries Study Center ""No book in any language equals The Church, Dictatorships, and Democracy in Latin America for its comparative breadth. Historians, social scientists, and general readers will cull from it the conditions needed for the church to play a positive and creative role in furthering human rights and democracy."" -John A. Coleman, SJ Loyola Marymount University ""Jeffrey Klaiber's book offers a wonderfully informative history of the Church's role in Latin American struggles to defend human rights and achieve democracy. Anyone who has followed with concern and interest these recent struggles-from military dictatorships in Brazil and Chile, through the violent conflicts in Central America, to the most recent struggles in Chiapas, Mexico-will find this remarkably comprehensive study of eleven different nations an invaluable text."" -Arthur F. McGovern, SJ University of Detroit ""This volume provides readers with the first comprehensive view of the church during a defining period of Latin American history. This is an invaluable study by a longtime and astute observer."" -Edward L. Cleary, OP Providence College ""A compelling account of the role of the church during the dictatorships and internal wars in eleven countries of Latin America . . . by an eminent historian."" -Gerald H. Anderson Director of Overseas Ministries Study Center Jeffrey Klaiber, SJ, an American Jesuit, has lived for forty years in Peru, where he is head of the humanities department at the Catholic University of America. He is the author of several scholarly works on Peru and over fifty articles in professional journals on the church, religion, and politics in Latin America.