The Blue Hill Library and Blue Hill Books are cosponsoring an author event with photographer and author Robert Nickelsberg in conversation with Janet Shenk on Thursday July 17 at 7PM in the library's Howard Room.

In the early 1980’s, Cold War political developments raged in Central America. Following the overthrow of the Nicaragua’s Somoza government by the leftwing Sandinista rebels in 1979, the United States bolstered its support for El Salvador’s right wing military government, making the small country ground zero for stopping the ascendance of left wing ideology in Latin America.

Legacy of Lies, El Salvador 1981-1984 features black and white photographs by former Time magazine photographer Robert Nickelsberg alongside descriptive personal essays from some of the period’s most important journalists, illustrating how U.S. foreign policy played out and fueled a violent 13-year civil war in El Salvador and formed the foundational context for the immigration chaos at the U.S. - Mexican border.

Robert Nickelsberg worked as a Time magazine contract photographer for nearly 30 years, specializing in political and cultural change in developing countries. He is the author of Afghanistan – A Distant War, published in 2013 by Prestel, which represents his 25 years of work in Afghanistan. Nickelsberg’s second book, Afghanistan’s Heritage: Restoring Spirit and Stone, done in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, was published in English, Dari and Pashto in May 2018. In April 2024, Kehrer Verlag published Legacy of Lies, El Salvador 1981-1984, a collection of black and white images shot during the civil war in El Salvador, 1981-1984, for Time magazine. Nickelsberg lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Janet Shenk led human rights delegations to El Salvador throughout the 1980s, and co-authored the book, El Salvador: The Face of Revolution, with Robert Armstrong.  She wrote numerous articles on Central America, field produced several PBS documentaries, and served as international editor for Mother Jones magazine. 

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Assistant Director Kayleigh Thomas at kayleigh.thomas@bhpl.net or call the library at 374-5515. Blue Hill Books will be on site with copies of the book available for purchase.