Powerful ... Absorbing and lucid ... [Gilliland] brilliantly conveys the grim and tangled history of Argentina’s last five decades through the people who experienced it up close.
Deeply reported ... Gilliland focuses on the ordeal of a single shattered family, widens her lens to include other cases, and embeds her tale in a crisp account of recent Argentinian history ... Argentina’s lessons for the current moment are multiple: When tyrants threaten, more people and institutions may cower than resist; the loss of checks on state violence can be catastrophic; and no one knows who the next victim will be.
An enthralling history of a human rights movement whose mission remains as urgent as ever ... Reads like a Cold War thriller, replete with betrayals, intrigue, and elaborate schemes .. Deft ... Cathartic, even exultant ... Lays bare the limits of truth and reconciliation.
Gilliland weaves in the real-life experiences of many other grandmothers, powerfully capturing both their heartbreak and their unyielding determination ... If Gilliland had solely focused on the true stories of the Abuelas, her book would still be a noteworthy achievement. But she goes further, guiding the reader through Argentina's complex political history ... Gillibrand does a masterful job conveying their extraordinary story.
An unflinching playbook of what happens when a government’s tyrannical impulses are fed as well as a heartbreaking, immersive account of what it means to stand up against injustice and demand that those who allow it move out of the way.
Gilliland immortalizes the heroic resistance of the women who called themselves the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo ... Meticulously chronicles a chapter of humankind at its worst, giving these times their gruesome due, lest they be forgotten and repeated.
