This solid study, replete with interesting insights, assesses the interrelationship of the armed forces and the bureaucracy as they carried out the agricultural reform program introduced by Velasco in 1969. Noting that Latin America has produced more land reforms in this century than any other region, with generally unsatisfactory results, the authors conclude that "the Velasco government did not conceive of a development model that was sufficiently congruent with social and economic patterns in Peru to guarantee institutional succession and continuity." The social result was to raise the relative status of the middle class and the military.