by Pat Werner
One of the favorite parlor games of gringos new to Granada is to haul out their favorite book on Nicaragua, one that gives some sort of deep insight into Nicaragua and the character of its people. Since 1990 there has been a spate of books, some a heady brew of fact and fiction, and others that are quite good at introducing Nicaragua to the newcomer. I have read most of them and have served as a source of information for more than one of them, sometimes attributed, sometimes not. But for me, none of them holds a candle to the mother of them all, Ephraim Squier’s magnificent, Nicaragua: People, Scenery, Monuments, Resources, Condition, and Proposed Canal.
