The book Fire from the Mountain talks about the Nicaraguan revolution, through an almost first-hand approach by a guerrilla fighter. Even though we have seen recounting of other revolutions we usually see them from a perspective of the general like Che or the international point of view of the United States. The struggle of the guerrillas in Nicaragua is one that is different than other retellings that we have read about, the narrator is not a symbol or an idol for his fellow revolutionaries but just a simple man trying to change the future of Nicaragua. Even his introduction into the mountain is that of a normal guerilla fighter, it is not heroic like that of Che’s or Castros arrivval to Cuba.

This notion that the mountains become the home and their only sanctuary while they risk their lives for the revolution. This realism that all guerrillas face that although the mountains provide for them they are just on the mountain, fighting more for their own lives than the revolution. At one point in the book, the author mentions how his eyes memorized all the trees in the mountain by their shape and shadows, this immersion into the life of the guerrilla is made most evident by this. The connection to the mountain establishes a link between the guerrillas and Indigenous identity in Nicaragua. The mountain isn’t the catalyst that allows the guerrillas to fight, but it is how the myth of the guerrillas was born. The author quotes Che statement of the guerilla fighter, once you enter into the guerillas you stay there… until victory or death, this notion that the mountain is his new home and his new way of life is made clear.

Although the revolution wasn’t an indigenous uprising but more centered on the overthrowing of a dictator, the involvement of indigenous groups was huge. The oppression of the government only pushed people into the mountains because of this myth. The myth of the guerrillas although romanticized by the public is exactly how the guerrillas become accepted by the public.  Although it was the general public that pushed for the political movement to arise, it was the myth of the mountain and of the guerrillas that gave them strength. This relationship that the people and the mountain has is what allowed for the guerrillas to gain traction. This connection with the public and the connection with the moutain plays heavily into the Indigenous culture of Nicaragua, by tapping into this it only further promotes the cause to those suffuring the most form government. This book is different from the rest that we have read in a way that it does not try to sell us the revolution, but presents the revolution through the life of an individual. It is through the eyes of that individual that we see how the revolution took place, it is not the opinions of the vanguard or generals that he belives, but that he has the potential to change Nicaragua for the better.