Silence on the Mountain

Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala by Daniel Wilkinson

Silence on the Mountain is a work of investigative reporting that explores Guatemala’s thirty-six-year civil war through the lens of a single incident: the burning of a coffee plantation’s manor house in 1993. As human rights worker Daniel Wilkinson investigates, he uncovers a deeper history of land reform, a U.S.-backed military coup, and a plantation system built on Indigenous labor for the global coffee trade.

Through firsthand accounts and suppressed stories, the book reveals how decades of fear enforced silence—and how giving voice to those experiences sheds light on the lasting impact of political terror in Guatemala and beyond.

Special Features

• Powerful account of Guatemala's political history and coffee's role in the turmoil
• Historical reporting meets crime-writing literature style
• Highly relevant context for understanding the impact of US complicity to this day

About the Author

Daniel Wilkinson is a senior policy advisor at Climate Rights International. He previously directed the environment division at Human Rights Watch, overseeing the organization’s work on climate change globally.

He has supervised research projects in more than 20 countries and conducted extensive advocacy in Washington and capitals throughout Latin America and Europe. He has published numerous articles on human rights and international affairs. His book, Silence on the Mountain, won the PEN/Albrand Award for outstanding first work of nonfiction by an American author.

Book Details

• Title: Silence on the Mountain
• Author: Daniel Wilkinson
• Format: Paperback
• Subject: Guatemala history and politics, US politics
• Publication Date: 2004
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Dimensions: 230 x 153 x 22mm
• Weight: 562g