About this title: An award-winning author tells the stories of the audacious American politicians, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers of other countries with disastrous long-term consequences.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Times Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780805078619ISBN:0805078614
Description: Good. Hardcover ex-library book with dust jacket in good condition. All usual stamps and markings. Pages are clean and the binding is tight. read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelving wear with minimal damage to cover and bindings. Pages show minor use. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Times Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780805082401ISBN:0805082409
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Audience: General/trade. 1851-1899; 20th Century; 21st Century; General; History; International Relations; Iraq War, 2003-; Legitimacy of governments-History-20th century; Military; Non-Fiction; Political Science; United States Nice copy slight crease in cover upper right other wise great condition... read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Times Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780805082401ISBN:0805082409
Description: Good; Ex library, marking on spine, inside cover, one stamp, in good shape. 0805082409. 0.9 x 8.2 x 5.4 Inches; 416 pages; “ Detailed, passionate and convincing...[with] the pace and grip of a good thriller. ” — Anatol Lieven, The New York Times Book Review"Regime change” did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the toppling of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 ... read more
Edition: 1st edition
Publisher: Times Books, New York
Date Published: 2006
Description: Fine/Fine. Clipping inside book entitled 'A CENTURY OF INTERVENTION, REGARDED WITH A COLD EYE' from the New York Times book review; excellent condition; owner's signature on front endpaper. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Times Books
Date Published: 2007-02-06
ISBN-13:9780805082401ISBN:0805082409
Description: New. Clean, Unmarked Copy, Priority Shipping recommended for prompt delivery by USPS when offered, Delivery Confirmation on all domestic items where available. read more
"The strength in Kinzer's writing his his storytelling. He does a great job of detailing the events that lead up to and produce each U.S 20th century intervention, and easily kept me turning the pages. I admit before reading, I was lacking in my knowledge of the U.S. involvement in most of these "overthrows". These are not the stories you get in 11th grade history class. For that, the detailed underpinnings and lynchpins involved in each intervention, this book is a phenomenal.
However, this knowledge does not come with some bias. I appreciate Kinzer's attempt at interpreting and judging each of these interventions, although I found his analysis cursory at best. I feel he reaches conclusions regarding the outcomes that may not necessarily be true and contain an obvious bit of bias on his part. But, it is his book, and he's entitled to these ramblings.
Overall, the book is a great read for anybody interested in 20th century U.S. history and foreign policy. Just don't believe everything you read."
"An eye-opener re: the century (did we know?) long history of US destabilization & overthrow of legitimate govts. Even though I've lived through many of these events, Kinzer provides information to which ordinary US citizens had no access. More examples of how history is often changed for both better and worse by just one individual."
"Kinzer writes well and knows how get the reader to keep turning the pages. He is at his best when he is putting together individual stories of little known characters who played decisive roles in the history of US interventions. The book is worth it for these stories and for the characters that Kinzer unearths. But Kinzer tries to play two other roles for which he, as a former reporter, simply does not have the skills.
What happens when news turns into patterns? Answer: then it is no longer news. When what seems like a new event becomes part of a pattern, then we have ventured into social theory. As much as I envy their writing, their story telling, and their eye for individuals, I also feel bad for former reporters. Most of them are trained to recognize events and don't know what to do when faced with patterns. As a hopeful social theorist, Kinzer wants to line up all the US interventions and show us a pattern. Each of his three sections ("Imperial Era," "Covert Action," and "Invasions") ends with a chapter where he tries his hand at social theory. He moves, that is, from events to patterns. Mostly he fails for reasons I will discuss shortly.
Kinzer's third mode is as an adjudicator. He decides, as white bearded God sitting up high with lightening bolts, which interventions were worth it (Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Panama, and Afghanistan) and which weren't (Philippines, Cuba, Honduras, Guetamala, Iran, Vietnam, and Chile). (I remained unclear about his position on Iraq.) The problem is that he leaves these decisions untheorized. And frankly this leaves him looking rather simple minded to those of us who have dedicated some energy to just such theorizing. Of course, he is, as they say, entitled to his opinion. But interventions in Third world countries are perhaps more than a matter of which flavor of ice-cream one likes, which films are good, or which style of music one prefers. The likely sad truth case is that you and I have probably spent more energy theorizing ice-cream, films, and musical styles than Kinzer has spent on his adjudicating US interventions.
Kinzer's major flaw, I think, is that he cannot help needing to deliver some good news to his readers. Whereas those, such as Chomsky, Zinn, and Churchill, make a commitment to cataloging US interventions and displaying their damage, Kinzer, like Joshua Moravchik and Max Boot, wants to support some of these interventions. I am not sure whether he does this out of conviction or as a strategy to keep from losing what he imagines is his typical US reader. In the conclusion, though, the defense of US intervention drops out. Here Kinzer makes the realist point (quoting Thucydides) that power corrupts even, and perhaps especially, those who believe naively in their own exceptionalism. This is a fair and important point. But the point is made at some cost.
The cost is an overemphasis on individuals, actions, and events over patterns, systems, and structures; a porous and vapid defense of the occasional super-power intervention; and a framework that treats its readers as children who need morals to their stories.
The stories are great. If they can be excised from Kinzer's shallowness and placed within a richer frame, then this book can be useful. Otherwise I'd rather have the bald faced frontal defenders of empire (Murivchik, Boot) or those who do not to hesitate to point to empire's indefensibility (Chomsky, Churchill)."
"This is a book that will change how you view the United States. Our government and history books have done a good job promoting propaganda that sends a message that we are involved in other countries' affairs for the good of those countries and to promote democracy. So much of it boils down to protecting corporate interests! A very interesting read."
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