NONFICTION - May 17, 1987

WHERE IS NICARAGUA? by Peter Davis (Simon & Schuster: $17.45; 306 pp.). In this anecdotal travel journal through a country at war with a U.S.-backed insurgency, Peter Davis, who made the “Hearts and Minds” documentary on Vietnam, mixes history with interviews and sightseeing. Like most American tourists in Nicaragua, Davis’ trip was brief. He says he speaks “inadequate” Spanish. But unlike most visitors who arrive, tour and leave Nicaragua with their preconceptions intact, Davis captures the subtleties and contradictions of the revolution. For those who have not followed Nicaragua in the news, the book provides an easy primer on the basic issues--church, economy, business and politics--but doesn’t offer any answers.

There is some lovely writing in the book and touching moments, such as in an interview with the elderly “last Marine” who invaded Nicaragua, and an evening at the central post office eavesdropping on telephone calls to relatives abroad. But the book cries for an editor. Davis quotes every teacher, nun and do-gooder he meets, and lets them all run on. He has a chapter on a U.S. ambassador who is long gone, and other material outdated since his 1983 trip. Davis clearly is a film man who views the world in images, scenes and characters. He has a good eye and a good ear, but leaves the readers thinking he should have made a movie instead.