The place: A Latin American dictatorship, in which assassinations, torture, and poverty are the realities of everyday life. The time: 1980s, as the United States agonizes over whether to support General Juan Ferrer, whose corrupt regime is beginning to crack in the face of growing opposition. But Ferrer is Washington's man, a firm anti-Communist, the recipient of many favors from the CIA and with carefully cultivated connections in Congress. Into...