Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War

A new twist on the coming-of-age memoir in this eccentric and captivating story of the summer the author ran away from college to join the Sandinista revolutionaries in Nicaragua

"1987 is the year I did nothing. The year I fought in no war, contributed to no cause, didn't get shot, jailed, or injured . . . The only thing that changed as a result of our presence was us."

Some people go to the Tibetan Himalayas to find themselves; some to Italy's great temples of art. Not Deb Olin Unferth. A freshman at a large state university, raised a secular Jew, Unferth fell in love with a Christian idealist and followed him to Central America in search of a revolution.

Despite their earnest commitment to revolutionary causes— all revolutionary causes—and to each other, the couple find themselves unwanted, unhelpful, and unprepared as they bop around looking for "revolution jobs." As the months wear on, cracks begin to form in the foundation of their relationship. They get fired, they get sick, they run out of money and grow disillusioned with the revolution and each other. With an unflinching and unique comic sensibility, Unferth reflects on the youthful search for meaning and on what happens to a country and its people after the revolution is over.