This is the story of one of the most ambitious agrarian reforms in Latin American history. The book argues that the economic, political, and cultural dynamics set in motion by the reforms are central to understanding the brutal civil war that ensued in Peru between the state and the Maoist-Leninist Shining Path guerilla movement.

"This is a lively, original, and carefully researched study of the transformation of political cultures in highland Peru during and after the agrarian reform of the late 1960s. It makes an important contrubution to our understanding of the relationship between community and state in Latin America in general, and in the Andes in particular, by analyzing the ways in which law is translated at the local level."--Joanne Rappaport, University of Maryland
"Between Reform and Revolution is much more than the standard ethnography. Rather, this is a wide-ranging discussion of the political currents that have reshaped Andean life. . . . Seligmann's account is richly textured, highly readable, balanced, and insightful. . . . Well worth reading both for the Peruvian as well as for those interested in issues of land tenure, political changes, and the peasantry."--Journal of Developing Areas

"Between Reform and Revolution is much more than the standard ethnography. Rather, this is a wide-ranging discussion of the political currents that have reshaped Andean life. . . . Seligmann's account is richly textured, highly readable, balanced, and insightful. . . . Well worth reading both for the Peruvian as well as for those interested in issues of land tenure, political changes, and the peasantry."