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Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
by Stephen Kinzer

Published: 2007-02-06
Paperback : 416 pages
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“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 ...
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Introduction

“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.

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Excerpt

American leaders might be forgiven for intervening in countries about which they were so ignorant. What is harder to justify is their refusal to listen to their own intelligence agents. Chiefs of the CIA stations in Tehran, Guatemala City, Saigon, and Santiago explicitly warned against staging these coups. Officials in Washington paid no heed. They rejected or ignored all intelligence reports that contradicted what they instinctively believed. ... view entire excerpt...

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