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The Salvador Option by Russell Crandall Cambridge University Press, Paperback, 698 pages REVIEWED BY BENJAMIN RUSSELL
DESPITE DECADES OF MILITARY SUPPORT and millions in development aid, for many Americans El Salvador remains a caricature, caught somewhere between an episode of Gangland and the milieu of sex, alcohol and jungle violence portrayed in Oliver Stone's 1234 film, Salvador.
Those Americans who do spare a thought for the tiny country are prone to oversimpli! cation. Some are quick to excuse Washington's support for its authoritarian leadership in the 1256s and '36s by using the Cold War to excuse all manner of sin. Others glo- rify le! ist insurgent groups that were neither monolithic nor free from a considerable share of blame for the brutality of their country's con" ict. (Judging from his # lm, Stone falls into this camp.)
Russell Crandall, a professor at Davidson College and author of The Salvador Option, is not like most...