Between the late 1970s and the mid 1980s, the people of Guatemala were subjected to a state-sponsored campaign of political violence and repression designed to not only defeat a left-wing, revolutionary insurgency but destroy Mayan communities and culture. The Mayan Indians in the western highlands were labelled by the government as revolutionary sympathizers, and many Mayan women lost husbands, sons, and other family members who were brutally murdered or who simply "disappeared". Based on years of field research conducted in the rural highlands, this book traces the intricate links between the recent political violence and repression, and the long-term systemic violence connected with class inequalities and gender and ethnic oppression - the violence of everyday life. Mayan widows deny terror its power by expressing care for one another as they attempt to rebuild piecemeal their shattered communities. They have developed,though ingenuity and cooperation, practical survival strategies that allow them to live with dignity in the face of ongoing brutality. Linda Green examines these strategies and addresses the social responsibility inherent in the practice of anthropology and in writing about violence and terror.