Writing months after Jean-Claude Duvalier fled in February 1986, Nicholls explains the dynasty's collapse as a shift in its social base. Francois Duvalier won in 1957 by mobilizing the black middle class and by making colour central, then dismantled the army, the church hierarchy and every other rival, governing through the tontons macoutes. His son inherited the machine, courted technocrats and businessmen, and steadily lost the constituency his father had cultivated; the enrichment of the Bennett family then alienated even the bourgeoisie. Nicholls gives weight to forces the capital had long discounted. Protest began in provincial towns such as Gonaives, Radio Soleil carried word of it nationwide, and bishops condemned the shooting of students. Parish development groups sponsored by the church produced many of the leaders who challenged the regime. The army, schooled for three decades to stay out of politics, accepted power only after the American embassy pressed General Namphy to take it.