D​‌‍‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‍​rawing on interviews with peasants, community leaders, guerrillas, and paramilitary forces, Manz creates a richly detailed political portrait of Santa María Tzejá, where highland Maya peasants seeking land settled in the 1970s. Manz describes these villagers' plight as their isolated, lush, but deceptive paradise became one of the centers of the war convulsing the entire country. After their village was viciously sacked in 1982, desperate survivors fled into the surrounding rain forest and eventually to Mexico, and some even further, to the United States, while others stayed behind and fell into the military's hands. With great insight a​‌‍‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‍​nd compassion, Manz follows their flight and eventual return to Santa María Tzejá, where they sought to rebuild their village and their lives. In this class you will have the opportunity to discuss major class themes and relate them to the politics, economics, religion, subsistence strategies, families, and social events familiar to you. For your assignment, you are to read Beatriz Manz’s Paradise in Ashes. At the end of the class discussion, students will compose a five page paper (1,500-2,000 words) that will review this work, discuss its relevance to major course themes, and deliberate about its impact and contribution to anthro​‌‍‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‍pology.