More representative of widely divergent viewpoints than most of the current writing on Nicaragua, this collection fills a definite need. The essays explore the roots of the crisis as well as its internal, regional and international dimensions. There is a final section attempting a synthesis of viewpoints. The essays were presented at an April 1986 seminar sponsored by the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the University of Miami's Institute of Soviet and East European Studies. They are reinforced by a useful reprinting of several basic documents from Sandinista and other sources.