Banana Diplomacy: The Making of American Policy in Nicaragua, 1981-1987

Based on probing interviews with key players of involved countries (including Argentina), this is an amply documented indictment of Reagan administration policy toward Nicaragua, which the author calls ``a case study in the perils of fighting strategic battles in secret, on the cheap, and by proxy.'' Gutman describes how a ``parallel government'' of presidential lieutenants came into being in pursuit of a contradictory confrontation/conciliation policy mostly outside the framework of normal government channels. The book should be required reading for students of the increasingly complex Central American quagmire, as it reveals considerable detail about the interactions of Casey, Poindexter, McFarlane, North, the latter's ``neat idea'' and the eclipse of State Department control of foreign policy in Central America. Gutman is national-security correspondent for New York Newsday. First serial to the Nation. (June)