This book is the first biography in 42 years of the priest and educator whom historians have called "the most important anticommunist in the country." Edmund A. Walsh, as dean of Georgetown College and founder in 1919 of its School of Foreign Service, is one of the most influential Catholic figures of the 20th century. Soon after the birth of the Bolshevik state, he directed the Papal Relief Mission in the Soviet Union, starting a lifelong immersion in Soviet and Communist affairs. He also established a Jesuit college in Baghdad, and served as a consultant to the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. A pioneer in the new science of geopolitics, Walsh became one of Truman's most trusted advisers on Soviet strategy. He wrote four books, dozens of articles, and gave thousands of speeches on the moral and political threat of Soviet Communism in America. Although he died in 1956, Walsh left an indelible imprint on the ideology and practical politics of Cold War Washington, moving easily outside the traditional boundaries of American Catholic life and becoming, in the words of one historian, "practically an institution by himself." Few priests, indeed few Catholics, played so large a role in shaping American foreign policy in the 20th century.

The period following Mexico's war with the United States in 1847 was characterized by violent conflicts, as liberal and conservative factions battled for control of the national government. In ""Sons of the Sierra"", Patrick McNamara explores events in the Oaxaca district of Ixtlan, where Zapotec Indians supported the liberal cause and sought to exercise influence over statewide and national politics. Two Mexican presidents had direct ties to Ixtlan district: Benito Juarez, who served as Mexico's liberal president from 1858 to 1872, was born in the district, and Porfirio Diaz, president from 1876 to 1911, had led a National Guard battalion made up of Zapotec soldiers throughout the years of civil war. Paying close attention to the Zapotec people as they achieved greater influence, McNamara examines the political culture of Diaz's presidency and explores how Diaz, who became increasingly dictatorial over the course of his time in office, managed to stay in power for thirty-five years. McNamara reveals the weight of memory and storytelling as Ixtlan veterans and their families reminded government officials of their ties to both Juarez and Diaz. While Juarez remained a hero in their minds, Diaz came to represent the arrogance of Mexico City and the illegitimacy of the ""Porfiriato"" that ended with the 1910 revolution.