'To vanish from sight; be traceable no farther; cease to be present; be lost, especially without explanation.' The verb in question normally behaves intransitively, but in Argentina after 1976 it learned to take a direct object as the military regime disappeared between nine and twenty thousand people. Humberto Costantini and Omar Rivabella both write about this, but their approach is so different that their books in fact complement each other.

LRB 23 April 1987 | PDF Download