Victoria González-Rivera's work seeks to fill an important void in the discourse on women in Nicaraguan politics. Preceded by other notable works on the role of women in the Sandinista revolution, Before the Revolution tells the story of the origins of first-wave feminism in the late nineteenth century and the women's movement in Nicaragua during the Somoza era (1936–79). In doing so, the author confronts a well-established narrative about the genesis of the Nicaraguan women's movement and helps to redefine our understanding of the role that women have played in Nicaraguan politics.

González-Rivera's research draws primarily on archival research and interviews with members of the Somocista women's movement (Ala Femenina), as well as non-Somocistas affiliated with the Liberal Party and women from other political parties who were active at the time. Had her work come a few years later, many of these stories would have been lost to history. These first-hand accounts provide a valuable narrative about the nature and role of women under the Somoza regime. The author's own backstory, discussed throughout the book, provides another important layer that is woven into this story. The daughter of a Nicaraguan anti-Somocista and an American activist, González-Rivera was confronted with a range of reactions to both her research and her background. Some were dismayed that she would disturb the established narrative about women's political participation; others were concerned that her work would somehow legitimise the Somoza regime. The controversy surrounding her research merely serves to underscore both its importance and the depth of feelings that remain over this divisive era in Nicaraguan history.

The Somoza era represents a rather dark time in Nicaraguan politics, particularly for women. The institutionalisation of state prostitution and the rape of political opponents are merely two of the practices of the regime chronicled in this narrative. So how did Nicaraguan women, who gained the right to vote in 1955, become such important supporters of the Somoza regime? While some may find it contradictory that so many women supported a regime that was decidedly misogynist, repressive and corrupt, the author makes a compelling argument that their support for the regime was tied to their economic well-being. For the Somocistas in Ala Femenina, women's rights were subordinate to other concerns. As González-Rivera and others have asserted, this is not so dissimilar to women in the Sandinista movement who put the revolution and national liberation ahead of women's rights. Though González-Rivera's research demonstrates that the burgeoning women's movement of the 1920s and 1930s was eventually co-opted by the regime, she does not suggest that women were merely passive players in Nicaraguan politics. The multi-class coalition of women who supported the regime did so in exchange for benefits, both real and perceived. This clientelistic relationship between citizen and regime provided the Somozas with a measure of popular support and provided the women with a measure of economic security. Promises of employment and political empowerment generated enthusiasm, particularly among urban, middle-class women. In this relationship of ‘intimate reciprocity’, women were often rewarded for their support with jobs in the public sector, albeit as low-wage workers.

The author's research also reveals important class dynamics that shaped women's participation in Nicaraguan politics during this era. While Ala Femenina was a multi-class coalition, González-Rivera notes that the organisation mimicked the Somoza regime in its hierarchical, undemocratic structure and practices. Decision-making was strictly the purview of the urban, middle-class members, who appear in some of the book's photographs posing with various members of the Somoza family. If Ala Femenina was the embodiment of middle-class participation and decorum, then Nicolasa Sevilla became the crude expression of working-class women. Known as La Nicolasa, she was one of the most powerful yet reviled examples of Somoza's female supporters. As the founder of the Somocista Popular Fronts, she and her gangs (turbas) publicly and violently harassed women in the opposition. Her brutal tactics and social standing elicited allegations that she was a former prostitute, an all too common way to slander working-class women.

The indiscriminate brutality and corruption that characterised the Somoza regime in the 1970s drove away many supporters, presumably including many women. The extent to which these former Somocistas lent their support to the revolutionaries is a story yet to be told. While the dominant narrative about the role of women in Nicaraguan politics has traditionally centred on their participation in the 1979 Sandinista revolution, Before the Revolution succeeds in providing a much richer understanding of the history of feminism and women's political participation in Nicaragua, as well as the role of women in right-wing politics more broadly.