The strawberry plant is a stemless, rosaceous herb of the genus Fragaria. The confectioner has a multitude of uses for its fruit, from ice cream toppings to pastry fillings. But in addition to the interest its fruit adds to ouixliet, the strawberry plant is currently making a most improbable social impact: It forms the basis of a program of fundamental socioeconomic reform in Guatemala's central highlands.

The story of the role of the strawberry in bringing about basic social change and the practical and theoretical implications of the program of which it is an integral part begins with my father, Carl H. Jacob, a former college professor from southeastern Idaho and a Fulbright lecturer at the national university of El Salvador.