Daniel Wilkinson's Silence On The Mountain

Silence on the mountain was a book written by Daniel Wilkinson. In his book, Wilkinson chronicles the guerilla warfare and massacres that occurred in Guatemala during its 36-year conflict, starting in the late 1950s with a U.S backed rebellion that installed a militaristic government, overthrowing the one that was already in place. During the conflict, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and disappeared. Wilkinson sought to discover the untold stories of the conflict, which had not been covered to the extent that it should. One of the periods in the conflict that Wilkinson focused heavily on was the early 1980’s because Wilkinson tried trying to search for the story behind a destroyed house which was located in a plantation. Ten years after the incident, he returns to Guatemala to find out the story behind the house that was burnt. He interviewed Guatemalans who participated directly in the conflict. He also looked at important documents, such as letters. Wilkinson also interviews interview the owners as well as the workers. While the owners of the plantation in which the

Wilkinson did not come out of his investigation with a complete and comprehensive understanding of what had happened. He did not provide a full understanding of the conflict because he left out many important aspects. For instance, he interviewed the guerrillas, but did not interview those who knew them, such as close family members. Doing so would have given Wilkinson a second perspective of the events which occurred from the viewpoint of the Guerrillas. Another example is his examination of documents. The conflict lasted for decades, and as a result, there were likely more documents than Wilkinson had investigated. Looking at those documents would have included all of the viewpoints from all types of people that participated in the conflict instead of gaining the perspective from a few