What’s up friends.
As an US citizen who can see past the red white and blue nonsense shoved down my throat since birth I know how much my government sucks. But I would like to be a bit more educated on the specifics of that. Specifically I am looking for books summarizing US involvement in other nations essentially destabilizing their governments/installing new ones that work in our favor/ensuring capitalism is dominant/stealing resources/etc/etc. I know this has been the case in most of South America/ Southeast Asia/Middle East/Africa/essentially everywhere but ideally there would be some book with a chapter per nation and the historical events/reasons for the US government doing what they did. I’m not looking to get too too deep into any one conflict at this point, rather I’m looking for a more general understanding of US interference nation to nation.
I’m sure the exact thing I’m looking for doesn’t exist but maybe something similar does.
Let me know if anything you think might be of interest to me. I appreciate any feedback in advance
by Genji_Gloves
15 Comments
Killing Hope by William Blum
Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad
Disclaimer: I haven’t read this one yet, but you might check out Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner.
You said no specific conflicts, but another one is All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer is an interesting one on Iran.
[Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59366154-freezing-order?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=mBl8KuAvxI&rank=1) was a pretty fascinating read.
I haven’t read it yet but “How to Hide and Empire” by Daniel Immerwahr was recommended to me when I was looking to read about some similar stuff.
It’s been a long time since I read it so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but maybe The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
[removed]
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
Disaster Capitalism
Enough Already by Scott Horton
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but the U.S. tested so many nuclear bombs on Bikini Atoll (in the Marshall Islands) after WWII. Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner writes about the fallout and the negative health effects in her collection Iep Jaltok.
The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock is what you’re looking for. Chronicles the mistakes, corruption and oversights made through multiple presidencies in painful detail.
Edit: Missed the part about not wanting to focus on one conflict. This book just covers the war on terror FYI.
Haven’t read it yet myself but try *The Jakarta Method.*
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer.
Do yourself a favour and pick up Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer. Engagingly written and 100% what you’re looking for: a history of USA’s involvement in staging coups abroad.
I haven’t read it in a while, but I think Taken Hostage by David Farber may be a good one, and it’s short. It’s about the events leading up to the Iran Hostage Crisis.