In this autobiography, Rigoberta Menchú details the two stages of her life: before political organizing, and after. Because she was born into a life of varied suffering and extreme poverty, and because hunger and crippling labor were constants, she was always conscious of the repercussions of Guatemalan politics in her personal life.

Every year of her childhood was divided between her home in the Altiplano, where Indians cultivated their own land and made every attempt to live as their ancestors had, and the coast, where the fincas were located. For most of each year, her family would leave the Altiplano and go down to the fincas, or plantations, on the coast, and endure inhumane work and living conditions picking cotton or coffee. Many children accompanied their families to the fincas, and many of the younger ones died of malnutrition or disease.

It is when Mench...