The Surrendered

“José Carlos Agüero offers a rare, fragmented yet fluid memoir that is at once searing, loving, and analytically adept. The Surrendered challenges readers to approach the violence, atrocities, and loss of Peru's final decades of the twentieth century with openness and at least a modicum of compassion. Agüero seeks a fundamental sense of right and wrong while laying bare the failures of the language of victors and vanquished, perpetrators and victims.” - Katherine Hite, Professor of Political Science on the Frederick F. Thompson Chair, Vassar College

“José Carlos Agüero is the first author to personalize and humanize the psychological impact of political violence on Peruvian society. Powerful and beautifully written, The Surrendered is at once literary, autoethnographic, and historical. It is a one-stop shop for anyone interested in learning about the complexities and human consequences of the Peruvian armed conflict. A tour de force.” - Miguel La Serna, coauthor of The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes

"Through his personal history as the child of radicals who 'decided to risk their lives in a war no one had declared against them' [Agüero] explores the ethical complexities of the conflict’s aftermath with a sensitivity and subtlety that will make his book a valuable resource for anyone studying conflict resolution and reconciliation." - Tom Hennigan, Dublin Review of Books

“The Surrendered is a significant contribution to memory studies, human rights, and an indispensable book for scholars of Peru’s past and present. . . . The universal themes within the book widen the scope of its impact for understanding post-conflict societies and the humanity of victims.” - Lucía Luna-Victoria Indacochea, A Contracorriente

“[The Surrendered] is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book. . . . It is hard to put down.” - John W. Sherman, Journal of Global South Studies