Quilali, a rural community in the heart of Nicaragua's mountainous interior, is also the center of a war zone that has seen ongoing conflict since the 1980s.

Drawing on the testimonies of local people, from contra collaborators and ex-combatants to pro-Sandinista peasants, this dynamic account of a generation of rural instability explores the growing divisions between the peasants who took up arms in defense of revolutionary programs and ideals, such as land reform and equality, and those who opposed the Sandinistas.

Peasants in Arms details the role of local elites in organizing the first anti-Sandinista uprising in 1980 and their subsequent rise to positions of field command in the contras. It then explores the internal factors that led a majority of peasants to turn against the revolution and examines the ways in which the military draft and family and community pressures reinforced conflict and undermined Sandinista policy shifts that attempted to win back peasant support.