Contra Cross: Insurgency and Tyranny in Central America, 1979-1989
"A boots-in-the-mud personal memoir from the battlefields of El Salvador’s Marxist revolution and Nicaragua’s Contra War, Contra Cross is also an eerily timely admonition of the challenges and pitfalls of today’s ‘transformational’ efforts to democratize the world.  It is a warning that victory will require both a very long-term commitment of major national resources and some serious attitude adjustments by us, beginning with our military and diplomatic corps."--Dr. Timothy C. Brown, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author of The Real Contra War"Dead-on accurate, readable, and honest, this book will give no comfort to those gringo politicians still mourning the communist failures in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Bill Meara is someone who has the insurgency-counterinsurgency era in Central American nailed."--Col. John Waghelstein, USA (Ret.), Naval War College and former commander of U.S. Military Group – El Salvador and of the 7th Special Forces Group"Contra Cross is not only a refreshing and an uplifting change from most war memoirs, it is also punctuated with the beautifully written highs and lows of everyday life.  Meara studiously avoids both personal aggrandizement and being an apologist for American politicians.  His clear and uncommon common sense is refreshing and does much more: It adds weight to his observations both as a Green Beret trained officer and a U.S. State Department foreign service officer. For the military historian as well as anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how American overseas assistance worked, this book is a must. The fact that the writing reflects intelligence, candor, and fairness to all sides is a terrific bonus."--Loyd Little, former Green Beret and author of the award-winning Vietnam novel Parthian Shot