In 1983, Pat McCully, a middle school teacher in California, found herself discussing with her students the shocking news reports about illegal US-funded military support of the Contra insurgent forces in Nicaragua, The daily press coverage revealed attacks by the Contras on innocent civilians, and on the democratically-elected government that had just successfully overthrown a brutal dictator, Anastacio Somoza. When a student challenged her understanding of the news reports by asking, "How do you know? You've never even been there," Ms McCully decided to go to Nicaragua during her Christmas...