Ambassador Pezzullo arrived in Managua at the end of June, 1979, shortly before the Somoza regime was toppled by a broad opposition coalition led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front. His book recounts the development of the crisis in Nicaragua, and the evolution of U.S. policy toward Somoza. Unfortunately, Pezzullo spends a great deal of time offering his opinions on Nicaraguan history rather than relating his own involvement. His tenure as ambassador to the victorious revolutionaries and, by extension, Carter's changing policy toward them, receives no attention whatsoever.

Nevertheless, this is a primary source of significant value. It is not a scholarly analysis, and like any participant's account, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Viewed in this way it does provide insight to the problems confronting the Carter administration in Nicaragua, and to the mismanagement of its already limited options.