Honduras's longest-serving head of government, Tiburcio Carias (1876-1969) was a larger-than-life figure who possessed the air of an ordinary, approachable person. during his rule from 1933 to 1949, he variously employed the tactics of a liberal, a conservative, a constitutionalist, and a dictator. Modern Honduras cannot be understood without comprehending his influence. In the--amazingly--first biography of this powerful Latin American caudillo, Thomas J. Dodd, a former ambassador to Uruguay and to Costa Rica, offers a vital, riveting account of Carias's life and career. Dodd shows Carias to have been a pragmatist and political survivor. His regime, unique in Central American and Caribbean history, was neither a brutal military government nor draconian and despotic. Unlike Somoza, Batista, Trujillo, and other contemporary dictators, Carias was not assassinated, driven from office, or exiled. He completed his term, stepped down, and remained active in Honduran politics until his death. The National Party he created remains a major political force to this day. Dodd's superb combination of biography and political history explains Carias's rise to power and shows how the trajectory of his public career reflected the life of his country.

Thomas J. Dodd was U.S. ambassador to Uruguay and to Costa Rica in 1993--1997 and 1997--2001, respectively. He is now an adjunct professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He previously taught at Instituto Tecnologico de los Estudios Superiores in Mexico, in Georgetown's Department of History, and at American University's School of International Service. His other books are Managing Democracy in Central America: A Case Study; United States Election Supervision in Nicaragua, 1927--1933; and The Panama Crisis, 1900--1904: Letters of Tomás Herrán. He lives in Washington, D.C.