How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

Deeply informative, 01 Aug 2006
I bought this book in order to use as a source for my A level coursework, and after reading it have decided to pretty much solely focus my attention on the information derived from Dinges account. He provides a maintained unbiased account of Latin American political repression, American involvement, and the terror inflicted on the people of South America. It is a logical and comprehensive progression through the events that took place before, during and after Condor, often providing personal experiences including a time when the author himself was arrested. I most liked the balance achieved between factual interpretation and pure action such as the gun battle involving Miguel Enriquez.
A unique book in that the author was living in Chile at the time and has obtained an immense amount of factual sources, its written in an appropriate style and I reiterate is of invaluable help to my coursework.

How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

Deeply informative, 01 Aug 2006
I bought this book in order to use as a source for my A level coursework, and after reading it have decided to pretty much solely focus my attention on the information derived from Dinges account. He provides a maintained unbiased account of Latin American political repression, American involvement, and the terror inflicted on the people of South America. It is a logical and comprehensive progression through the events that took place before, during and after Condor, often providing personal experiences including a time when the author himself was arrested. I most liked the balance achieved between factual interpretation and pure action such as the gun battle involving Miguel Enriquez.
A unique book in that the author was living in Chile at the time and has obtained an immense amount of factual sources, its written in an appropriate style and I reiterate is of invaluable help to my coursework.

An Up to Date Database strictly for Scientists, 17 Aug 2007
Patagonia is one of the hottest Mesozoic research points on the planet and there was a need for a book to summarize and describe in detail the discoveries, debates and conclusions regarding the relevant ecosystems.
Well the book succeeds in the details department. It is a collaborative effort from a group of paleontologists, each writing about his/her special field of interest. Each chapter is concerned with a particular category of Patagonian prehistoric reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, carnivorous dinosaurs etc.) and describes in great detail what has been discovered and where. The classification trees (with the relevant chronology) presented in the beginning of each section, are a great help for someone who approaches the subject for the first time. And after the individual species descriptions, we get a summary trying to put the discoveries in context with other reptile families and the general environment.
But the book is written by experts and is directed to a similar specialized audience. The style is heavily technical, particularly in the description of skeletal fossils for each and every reptile species, meant to be understood and appreciated by current or aspiring paleontologists only. A layperson is hopelessly lost in a jungle of jargon and is scantly helped by the illustrations and maps. And the color plates, since they are limited in number, should have been of a better quality.
As a non-scientist interested in Natural History and Paleontology, I still wish for a book covering Mesozoic Patagonia or any other similar hotspot. But it should be written for a wider audience than the paleontological scientific community.

How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

Deeply informative, 01 Aug 2006
I bought this book in order to use as a source for my A level coursework, and after reading it have decided to pretty much solely focus my attention on the information derived from Dinges account. He provides a maintained unbiased account of Latin American political repression, American involvement, and the terror inflicted on the people of South America. It is a logical and comprehensive progression through the events that took place before, during and after Condor, often providing personal experiences including a time when the author himself was arrested. I most liked the balance achieved between factual interpretation and pure action such as the gun battle involving Miguel Enriquez.
A unique book in that the author was living in Chile at the time and has obtained an immense amount of factual sources, its written in an appropriate style and I reiterate is of invaluable help to my coursework.

An Up to Date Database strictly for Scientists, 17 Aug 2007
Patagonia is one of the hottest Mesozoic research points on the planet and there was a need for a book to summarize and describe in detail the discoveries, debates and conclusions regarding the relevant ecosystems.
Well the book succeeds in the details department. It is a collaborative effort from a group of paleontologists, each writing about his/her special field of interest. Each chapter is concerned with a particular category of Patagonian prehistoric reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, carnivorous dinosaurs etc.) and describes in great detail what has been discovered and where. The classification trees (with the relevant chronology) presented in the beginning of each section, are a great help for someone who approaches the subject for the first time. And after the individual species descriptions, we get a summary trying to put the discoveries in context with other reptile families and the general environment.
But the book is written by experts and is directed to a similar specialized audience. The style is heavily technical, particularly in the description of skeletal fossils for each and every reptile species, meant to be understood and appreciated by current or aspiring paleontologists only. A layperson is hopelessly lost in a jungle of jargon and is scantly helped by the illustrations and maps. And the color plates, since they are limited in number, should have been of a better quality.
As a non-scientist interested in Natural History and Paleontology, I still wish for a book covering Mesozoic Patagonia or any other similar hotspot. But it should be written for a wider audience than the paleontological scientific community.


An extraordinarily moving autobiography, 03 Apr 2006
I was moved to tears by this book. It's very easy to read all the factual details of what happened under the Pinochet regime in Chile but this book lets you experience the unfolding of events and the brutal oppression that followed it directly through the eyes of a survivor. The style of writing is very poetic and I really enjoyed the childhood stories about the markets in Santiago and an amazing trip across the desert. It was sometimes difficult to read about the horrific torture that happened and the horrible fear that gripped the author and his companions when they knew that most of them would die. But ultimately it is a story about hope, about the triumph of the human spirit in an extreme situation. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

Deeply informative, 01 Aug 2006
I bought this book in order to use as a source for my A level coursework, and after reading it have decided to pretty much solely focus my attention on the information derived from Dinges account. He provides a maintained unbiased account of Latin American political repression, American involvement, and the terror inflicted on the people of South America. It is a logical and comprehensive progression through the events that took place before, during and after Condor, often providing personal experiences including a time when the author himself was arrested. I most liked the balance achieved between factual interpretation and pure action such as the gun battle involving Miguel Enriquez.
A unique book in that the author was living in Chile at the time and has obtained an immense amount of factual sources, its written in an appropriate style and I reiterate is of invaluable help to my coursework.

An Up to Date Database strictly for Scientists, 17 Aug 2007
Patagonia is one of the hottest Mesozoic research points on the planet and there was a need for a book to summarize and describe in detail the discoveries, debates and conclusions regarding the relevant ecosystems.
Well the book succeeds in the details department. It is a collaborative effort from a group of paleontologists, each writing about his/her special field of interest. Each chapter is concerned with a particular category of Patagonian prehistoric reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, carnivorous dinosaurs etc.) and describes in great detail what has been discovered and where. The classification trees (with the relevant chronology) presented in the beginning of each section, are a great help for someone who approaches the subject for the first time. And after the individual species descriptions, we get a summary trying to put the discoveries in context with other reptile families and the general environment.
But the book is written by experts and is directed to a similar specialized audience. The style is heavily technical, particularly in the description of skeletal fossils for each and every reptile species, meant to be understood and appreciated by current or aspiring paleontologists only. A layperson is hopelessly lost in a jungle of jargon and is scantly helped by the illustrations and maps. And the color plates, since they are limited in number, should have been of a better quality.
As a non-scientist interested in Natural History and Paleontology, I still wish for a book covering Mesozoic Patagonia or any other similar hotspot. But it should be written for a wider audience than the paleontological scientific community.


An extraordinarily moving autobiography, 03 Apr 2006
I was moved to tears by this book. It's very easy to read all the factual details of what happened under the Pinochet regime in Chile but this book lets you experience the unfolding of events and the brutal oppression that followed it directly through the eyes of a survivor. The style of writing is very poetic and I really enjoyed the childhood stories about the markets in Santiago and an amazing trip across the desert. It was sometimes difficult to read about the horrific torture that happened and the horrible fear that gripped the author and his companions when they knew that most of them would die. But ultimately it is a story about hope, about the triumph of the human spirit in an extreme situation. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Salvador Allende Reader Review, 17 Jun 2003
This book adequately examines and explains the events leading up to and including the military coup in Chile in September 11th 1973 as well as examining the personality of the Chiliean President Salvador Allende. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who would wish to see a stark example of American hypocracy, where the self proclaimed defenders of democracy methodically undermined and destroyed the Chilean economy and funded a bloody military coup against a democratically elected left of centre government. This is a story that need to be told.

How Pinochet turned Chileans against each other..., 22 Apr 1999
From 1970 to 1990, the country of Chile went through a very uncertain period of governmental rule. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet, written by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is a novel that gives a detailed explanation of the events in Chile from the time the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, until the citizens of Chile took Pinochet out of office according to his own rules. Constable and Valenzuela wrote this outstanding and meticulous novel to provide a detailed account of Pinochet's manipulation of Chileans, to educate people about the atrocities Pinochet allowed and commanded, and to explain how the Pinochet Regime turned the people of Chile against each other.

Throughout A Nation of Enemies, Constable and Valenzuela give vast amounts of support for their points leaving little room for doubt. This proves true for all of their ideas including the Pinochet's manipulation of the people. In discussing examples of this, Constable and Valenzuela bring up one of the main groups that Pinochet targeted: women. "Traditionally preoccupied with order and stability, wives and mothers had been a key element of support for the coup"(160). In one of his speeches, Pinochet made women feel important by saying, "the Chilean woman suffered...the most terrible consequences of the Popular Unity...Thus she was transformed into a solid foundation of my government, which liberated her from the nightmare"(160).

The Pinochet Regime also controlled people through propaganda. Constable and Valenzuela write, "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation"(152). Yet another way Constable and Valenzuela show the government's manipulation of the people is by providing examples of the secrets the government kept from the people. When human rights groups were opposed to Pinochet, his government tried to destroy their credibility. The government took a list of people who had supposedly disappeared and claimed that they were either alive or had died of natural causes. "But three years later the bodies of seven people he had listed as dead of natural causes--with medical examiners' certificates to prove it--were discovered in the lime ovens of Lonquén"(153).

The main goal of A Nation of Enemies, is of course, to prove that the Pinochet regime had turned the people of Chile against each other and into enemies. By illustrating the extreme difference of the lives of the rich versus the lives of the poor, Constable and Valenzuela show both the economic effects of the Pinochet regime, and the drastic split of the population. The authors show this split by devoting a chapter each to the rich and the poor, respectively, and then go on to explain the effects of the differences. The chapter entitled "The Rich" includes descriptions such as, "Among affluent urbanites, a fast new status-symbol culture emerged, departing markedly from Chile's tradition of upper-class modesty. Puegots were replaced by flashy BMWs, shopping malls and condominiums sprouted in the affluent suburbs, and lavish residential developments crept up the Andean foothills"(204-5). The following chapter, "The Poor" contains intense contrasts. "In this marginal world that is home to Santiago's two million poor, men rise at dawn to take three buses to work as machinists, women scrub laundry in dirt yards, and teenagers linger on corners sniffing cans of leather clue. Junk collectors' horse carts clop along the dusty alleys; people crowd around kiosks to read the days head lines and haunt the flea market displays of doorknobs, tea kettles, socket wrenches, eyeglasses, work boots, and cracked china plates".(222)

Not only do Constable and Valenzuela show the differences between the upper and lower class lifestyles, but they tell of the lack of interaction that led to the animosity between Chileans. "Formed under military rule and insulated in suburban enclaves, Chile's new economic elite had little contact with the working class and no recent experience with democracy"(219).

After establishing the division of classes Pinochet's regime created, Constable and Valenzuela go on to talk about how this created a polarized Chile. "In fact, many polls reflected a deep division among voters. For the affluent, the Pinochet years had been a time of public order and private freedom that many wished to see continue; for the poor, they had brought certain welfare benefits that would be painful to give up"(305). However, "For many other Chileans, military rule had been an experience of humiliation and deprivation. Families had been sundered and dignity violated; a proud democratic tradition had been replaced by the furtive, arbitrary atmosphere of authoritarianism"(305). By showing the division of the people when the Chileans had to chose between a new unknown government or a familiar dictatorship, Constable and Valenzuela perfectly illustrate the nation of enemies Pinochet created.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela accomplished their goals wholeheartedly with the publication of A Nation of Enemies. They talked with hundreds of people, who lived through the Pinochet regime and its effects, to gather their information. The manner in which they presented their information and the credibility of their sources leave no room for doubt. The evidence for all of their ideas was overwhelming. At times it was dense and hard to sift through, but it proved to be very educational. One fault of the novel was the length and amount of facts and numbers Constable and Valenzuela presented, however, they counteracted this by adding in short narrations about individual people. Those short stories added a great deal of reality and entertainment to the numerical support.

Overall, Constable and Valenzuela's A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet is a greatly informative and interesting novel about the years of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. As I began the novel, I felt as if I might not give a favorable recommendation of it, but by the end, I had learned so much that I can do nothing but endorse it. A Nation of Enemies is an excellent book to educate about the Pinochet regime for those who already have some information about it and for those with a great curiosity to learn.

Interesting study on a dictatorship, 04 Oct 1998
Constable and Valenzuela avoid the usual partisanship that covers Chilean issues in which you either think Allende was perfect or Pinochet was. They show how the Socialists overplayed their hand and how Pinochet did as well, only to a larger extent. They show how conservatives defended the murderous regime and used the country as a testing ground for the flawed economics of Milton Friedman. It is sad to see how anyone could defend the general's iron-handed rule but unfortunately American conservatives showed their lack of morals by doing so for a considerable period of time. The authors discuss most every issue of Chilean life and how it was affected by the government of Pinochet and go into why the dictator fell as well. A very complete and well-done work on the topic.

Deeply informative, 01 Aug 2006
I bought this book in order to use as a source for my A level coursework, and after reading it have decided to pretty much solely focus my attention on the information derived from Dinges account. He provides a maintained unbiased account of Latin American political repression, American involvement, and the terror inflicted on the people of South America. It is a logical and comprehensive progression through the events that took place before, during and after Condor, often providing personal experiences including a time when the author himself was arrested. I most liked the balance achieved between factual interpretation and pure action such as the gun battle involving Miguel Enriquez.
A unique book in that the author was living in Chile at the time and has obtained an immense amount of factual sources, its written in an appropriate style and I reiterate is of invaluable help to my coursework.

An Up to Date Database strictly for Scientists, 17 Aug 2007
Patagonia is one of the hottest Mesozoic research points on the planet and there was a need for a book to summarize and describe in detail the discoveries, debates and conclusions regarding the relevant ecosystems.
Well the book succeeds in the details department. It is a collaborative effort from a group of paleontologists, each writing about his/her special field of interest. Each chapter is concerned with a particular category of Patagonian prehistoric reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, carnivorous dinosaurs etc.) and describes in great detail what has been discovered and where. The classification trees (with the relevant chronology) presented in the beginning of each section, are a great help for someone who approaches the subject for the first time. And after the individual species descriptions, we get a summary trying to put the discoveries in context with other reptile families and the general environment.
But the book is written by experts and is directed to a similar specialized audience. The style is heavily technical, particularly in the description of skeletal fossils for each and every reptile species, meant to be understood and appreciated by current or aspiring paleontologists only. A layperson is hopelessly lost in a jungle of jargon and is scantly helped by the illustrations and maps. And the color plates, since they are limited in number, should have been of a better quality.
As a non-scientist interested in Natural History and Paleontology, I still wish for a book covering Mesozoic Patagonia or any other similar hotspot. But it should be written for a wider audience than the paleontological scientific community.


An extraordinarily moving autobiography, 03 Apr 2006
I was moved to tears by this book. It's very easy to read all the factual details of what happened under the Pinochet regime in Chile but this book lets you experience the unfolding of events and the brutal oppression that followed it directly through the eyes of a survivor. The style of writing is very poetic and I really enjoyed the childhood stories about the markets in Santiago and an amazing trip across the desert. It was sometimes difficult to read about the horrific torture that happened and the horrible fear that gripped the author and his companions when they knew that most of them would die. But ultimately it is a story about hope, about the triumph of the human spirit in an extreme situation. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Salvador Allende Reader Review, 17 Jun 2003
This book adequately examines and explains the events leading up to and including the military coup in Chile in September 11th 1973 as well as examining the personality of the Chiliean President Salvador Allende. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who would wish to see a stark example of American hypocracy, where the self proclaimed defenders of democracy methodically undermined and destroyed the Chilean economy and funded a bloody military coup against a democratically elected left of centre government. This is a story that need to be told.

Long-winded but interesting memories of a missionary's life in Chile, 21 Oct 2008
Gill Williamson Smith has written a very hefty book, full of insight into life in Chile from 1971-1980. This period covered time of great change and the chapters describing the political and economic situations, particularly with regard to life on the ground for ordinary people, were excellent. Less successful was the rather long-winded introduction to the book before the family ever reached Chile and the nebulousness of the description of what work they actually did in the first few years. Once Gill's husband Ray changed to a different role within Chile we learned more of their missionary endeavours.

Gill's writing style is good, a mixture of diary entries, reflections, reports from other sources etc, but the book was far longer than it needed to be and I never quite got enough of a handle on their actual work in Chile, learning rather more about their family than really necessary.