pThe time of freedom was the name that plantation workers--campesinos--gave to Guatemala's national revolution of 1944-1954. Cindy Forster reveals the critical role played by the poor in organizing and sustaining this period of reform. pThrough court records, labor and agrarian ministry archives, and oral histories, Forster demonstrates how labor conflict on the plantations prepared the ground for national reforms that are usually credited to urban politicians. She focuses on two plantation zones that generated exceptional momentum the coffee belt in the highlands around San Marcos and the United Fruit Company's banana groves near Tiquisate. Although these regions were unlike in size and complexity, language and race, popular culture and work patterns, both erupted with demands for workers' rights and economic justice shortly after the fall of Castaeda in 1944. pA welcome balance to the standard top-down histories of the revolution, Forster's sophisticated analysis demonstrates how cam