History often occurs differently for different people.
Perspective can play a huge role on how someone interprets events. History, as the case goes with beauty, often lies in the eye of the beholder. In The Banana Men , Lester Langley attempts to explain the motivations of the United States in several Central America countries through the eyes of various fruit producing corporations, the dictators who controlled these countries, and the American adventurers who came to Central America for profit and excitement. The book details the episodic history of mainly Honduras and Nicaragua from 1880-1930, excluding almost entirely the affairs of the US in El Salvador, Panama, and, most importantly, Guatemala. Langley alludes to the fact that American involvement often led to violence and corruption, but he mentions these facets of US involvement only in the Preface and Epilogue.