Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Kinzer
Publisher: Times Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $7.47
You Save: $8.53 (53%)
New (33) Used (28) Collectible (3) from $7.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  110 reviews
Sales Rank: 3618
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0805082409
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780805082401
ASIN: 0805082409
Publication Date: February 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! Has a publisher remainder mark. 2007 Paperback.
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
“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, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is but the latest example of the dangers inherent in these operations.
In Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer tells the stories of the audacious politicians, spies, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose foreign regimes. He details the three eras of America’s regime-change century—the imperial era, which brought Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Nicaragua, and Honduras under America’s sway; the cold war era, which employed covert action against Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam, and Chile; and the invasion era, which saw American troops toppling governments in Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Kinzer explains why the U.S. government has pursued these operations and why so many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences, making Overthrow a cautionary tale that serves as an urgent warning as the United States seeks to define its role in the modern world.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 105 more reviews...
 Required reading August 30, 2008
A revealing and very well-written book on America's history of meddling in world affairs, full of historical revelation and insight. Avoid the audiobook version of this; I don't know the name of the person chosen to read the book but his absurdly strident intonation turns it into a joke.
Karma Theory August 25, 2008
So there are these men, were there isn't a lot written about them in history (There is a airport named after one of them) and anyway they kind set the pace for American foreign policy. Later on OGA's kind of get over zealous with the "First to fight people" help and then congress cuts their balls off, presto 9/11. That's a Karma Theory. Kind of ironic were Obama was born. Mirror anyone ?
 "They Hate Us For Our Freedoms!" August 24, 2008
If you believe Bush's pithy statement above, then you really need to buy & read this book. I remember growing up in the 70's, when the Iranian Islamic revolution happened, and hearing all the "Death to America, the Great Satan" chanting, and like most Americans wondering what they were so mad about.
Never in the so-called "mainstream media" did I ever hear about our overthrow of Mossedegh in Iran and (re)installation of the brutul Shah. Err, that's why they hate us! Recommended reading for all US history classes...
Essesntial Reading August 13, 2008
This is a very well written book that provides us with critically important history that all Americans need to know. These are sad chapters that document the attempt to establish an American Empire and make it clear that the concept of a "war on terror" leaves out all history prior to 9/11/01. The chapter on the overthrow by the CIA of the democratically elected President of Iran in 1953 is especially important. This illegal intervention was undertaken on behalf of the oil companies who were infuriated at President Mossadegh's attempt to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. This is essential information which puts a whole new perspective on our very troubled relationship with Iran. (It also further reinforces the idea that our illegal war and occupation of Iraq was undertaken to secure the vast prize of Iraq's oil reserves.) This book makes it crystal clear that all too often our foreign policy decisions have been made in the service of big business. This is an old recipe for continuing disaster- America can do better than blindly follow in the footsteps of the French and British Empires. This, tragically, has been our course of action in Vietnam and now in Iraq- the book has two excellent chapters that deal with these disastrous interventions.
They don't teach this history in US public schools July 25, 2008
Overthrow is a very well written book by Stephen Kinzer that covers slightly more than 100 years of history dealing with US involvement in overthrowing foreign governments. This is the history they don't teach you in schools. Beginning in Hawaii and covering such exotic locales as Cuba, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Iran, Iraq, Grenada, Guatamala, Chile, Honduras, Vietnam, Puerto Rico and Panama. Each chapter covers a different country and is a lively read. It is very interesting to see the different motives and different strategies used over the last 100+ years. And of course, it puts current events in much better perspective if you know the last 100 years of history behind them.
Also interesting is "All the Shah's Men" which is a more indepth look at the early 1950s coup in Iran, which the US led. This leads to the unfortunate 1979 revolt that brought Iran under Islamic rule and under which it remains today.
I highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a nice one to just pick up and read a chapter and think "I had no idea that was why [insert country] is like that today".
|
|
|
