In this book Justin Wolfe studies the process of state formation in Nicaragua in the nineteenth century using as his main source documents from the prefecture of Granada. He does away with the standard historiography that identifies the administration of José Santos Zelaya (1893–1912) as the turning point for the consolidation of the Nicaraguan state, and demonstrates the importance of the years between the end of the ‘National War’ (the war that expelled American filibuster William Walker in 1856) and 1893.

Wolfe sees the National War as a catalyst for an elite state project. The easy usurpation of political power by a foreign adventurer was a sobering experience for Nicaragua's divided elites, who finally began to show some unity of purpose. Of course the end of the National War was not the only catalyst; the thirty years of unprecedented political peace that followed the expulsion of Walker coincided with a significant expansion of export and commercial activities all over Latin America. The consequences of the export-led growth of the second half of the 19th century have been the subject of a significant body of historiography on Nicaragua as well as on the rest of Latin America. In fact, Wolfe explicitly builds on excellent recent local studies on the impact of coffee production in Nicaragua such as the works by Julie Charlip on Carazo and Elizabeth Dore on Diriomo. What sets this book apart is a specific focus on state formation approached from the perspective of the cultural turn.

The book begins somewhat traditionally addressing some of the major themes in state formation including elite ideology, tax collection and the organisation of a coercive apparatus. Wolfe also describes how as commercial agriculture gained in economic importance the interests of local and national elites coincided. Ultimately the state that the Nicaraguan elites pushed forward was a version of the Latin American liberal blueprint that promoted property ownership, regulation of labour, cultural homogenisation and respect for the state (p. 40).

But the projects conceived under the shade of the verandas of Granada's mansions had to be implemented in a land of diverse peoples. At the end of the National War Nicaragua's vibrant Indian communities, with access to land, their own traditions and hierarchies of authority, located in areas suitable for export production, were an important part of the fabric of the country. Under these circumstances the projects of landowners eager to expand their capacity to export were bound to face resistance and provoke conflicts with ethnic connotations. The author's strategy is to explore the process of state formation not only through the actions of the elite but also by paying attention to the pushback from below.

The author analyses ‘competing discourses and their relationship to the material world of everyday life’ (p. 15) to understand the dynamics that helped to shape the state. In following this strategy he privileges conflict-ridden interactions and the responses of the legal system. For Wolfe, ‘the meaning and structure of the state’ (p. 21) developed from situations of struggle. A careful analysis of the discursive strategies used by the parties in court cases from different periods helps him to bring to life how ‘elites and subalterns negotiate[d] the meaning of the state and national identity from unbalanced power positions’ (p. 9). He uses with great skill court cases that arose due to conflicts over land privatisation and the enforcement of labour contracts to show how the discourse of the state could be refashioned from below. But one could argue that the emphasis on this type of sources (perhaps a constraint imposed by what was available in the archives) limits the scope of the analysis. There were important arenas away from the courts where the projects of dominant groups were contested, subverted and given new meaning. For example the school, where governmental authorities hoped to form dutiful citizens, is an important institution that is barely mentioned in the book.

The rapid changes in land tenure and labour recruitment practices that took place during the period generated a significant amount of conflict and therefore constitute an important part of the story. Wolfe argues convincingly that the identity of Indian communities was weakened by the privatisation of land, an increase in the numbers of ladinos in their midst, and a new ethos that privileged the individual over the community. At the same time the examples in the book show how communities and individuals were ready to defend their interests with remarkable dexterity. The analysis of land transactions shows that land privatisation did not lead to a substantial increase of inequality; it was rather the origin of a new smallholding class that saw its interests aligned to those of the national state.

The chapter on labour illustrates how government authorities at national and local levels developed an elaborate coercive apparatus to enforce labour contracts including money advances. This has been the basis to argue that debt peonage was important in Nicaragua until the early twentieth century. Wolfe finds that money advances declined rapidly over time, wages moved up when food prices increased, and both local and national efforts to enforce contracts had limited success at best. Labourers moving across jurisdictions easily escaped the authorities and found work with landlords uncurious about their previous commitments. This finding is at odds with Elizabeth Dore's view of persistent debt peonage in Diriomo. Perhaps this was a distraction from the cultural turn, but it is a pity that the implications of such an important discrepancy were not discussed any further.

But these concerns are not with the core of the argument. I found this book to be a successfully application of the insights of Joseph and Nugent's influential Everyday Forms of State Formation. Since the basic elements of the Nicaraguan case are also present in the history of other Latin American countries, I would have expected the conclusion to make some effort to put this case in comparative perspective. Instead, the author chose to conclude with a different but equally rewarding task of showing the implications of his argument for the troubled history of twentieth century Nicaragua. It was a wise choice. The book comes together nicely in the second half of the conclusion.