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Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II-Updated Through 2003 | 
| Author: William Blum
Publisher: Common Courage Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.99
You Save: $10.96 (44%)
New (28) Used (27) from $13.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 134346
Media: Paperback
Edition: Updated
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 500
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1567512526
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1273
EAN: 9781567512526
ASIN: 1567512526
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: A20090105201034W
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Product Description
PIs the United States a force for democracy? /PPIn this classic and unique volume that answers this question, William Blum serves up a forensic overview of U.S. foreign policy spanning sixty years. /PPRemarks from the previous edition:/PP"Far and away the best book on the topic."#151;Noam Chomsky/PP"A valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy."#151;IChoice/I/PP"I enjoyed it immensely."#151;Gore Vidal/PP"The single most useful summary of CIA history."#151;John Stockwell/PP"Each chapter I read makes me more and more angry."#151;Helen Caldicott/PP"A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important."#151;Thomas Powers, author and Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist/PP"A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive."#151;A.J. Langguth, author and former INew York Times/I bureau chief/PPFor those who want the details on our most famous -actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about our lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what our foreign policy goals really are. /PPWilliam Blum is the author of IRogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower/I./P
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 "the greatest strategists" April 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As head of the US State Department planning staff in 1948 George Kennan wrote: "we have about 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population... Our real task... is to... maintain this position of disparity... To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming... We should cease to talk about vague and... unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better." After a careful reading of Killing Hope one should be able to grasp the significance of the praise heaped on Kennan by the current US Secretary of State as she spoke of his "profound influence" on her, his "inspiration to generations of men", and his legacy as "one of the greatest strategists in the history of American foreign policy." I honestly don't know which is more disgusting, scumbags like Kennan and Rice or goose-stepping, flag-waving one-star-reviewers.
 Important Read January 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I admit that I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but you need not be one in order to be shocked at some of the information contained within. The reason is that many of the sources referenced are mainstream media. Not that this makes the information true necessarily, but it certainly provides a dose of credibility to other more abstruse historical accounts.
The Best Reference Out August 12, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The book does a great job showing the irony in the double-standards the US has used in its foreign policy since WWII, as State department officials confessed to (shown in the last chapter). This also makes for a more entertaining read than most other books on the topic. All together though, the book's use of these contradictions are just used to propel a central idea the author has, as stated in his introduction - that the communist threat was largely imagined, either intenionally at times or unintentionally, and that the US media failed to rationalize the discrepancies of state doctrines. So, if you believe this, you'll enjoy the book, otherwise, you'll find it a "worthless left-wing propanganda."br /br /The book does take for granted a large degree of knowledge by the reader. That is, the author only explains US activities (as the book's title plainly states) in particular regions, but general history between time periods and other nations' influences are usually omitted. So if your history isn't up to par it may be a little confusing keeping track of changing foreign attitudes and policies.
 Worthless Left-Wing Propaganda April 9, 2007
3 out of 74 found this review helpful
I'm sorry to say that I actually spent money on this! I had thought of returning it but I didn't want to allow these misconstrued fantasies to be further spread so I destroyed it. It's sad that the author used biased references and half truths to support his position. As a retired USAF military member I'm ashamed to think that I protected his rights for over twenty years. If he's so against the U.S why doesn't he leave this country and go peddle his stories somewhere else.
Essential Reference, Some Warts February 17, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Over-all, this is a very precious book, and an essential reference on the history of US intervention, both military and clandestine or covert.br /br /As a former Marine Corps infantry office and former clandestine services case officer, and as an avid reader of non-fiction, I will gladly state on the record that this author has it largely right.br /br /I took off one star because the book has NOT been properly updated. The list of U.S. military interventions still ends in 1945, only the the CIA assassination plot list has been updated.br /br /There are other books that complement this one--everything by Noam Chomspky, Derek Leebaert's "The Fifty-Year Wound," Chalmers Johnson on "Sorrows of Empire," Robert McNamara et al, "Wilson's Ghost," the DVD "Why We Fight," Ambassador Palmer's "The Real Axis of Evil" (on the 45 dictators we SUPPORT), and--with respect to the ignorance of America about reality, the two books, "Fog Facts," and "Lost History." See also Marine General Smedley Butler's short but hard-hitting work, "War is a Racket."br /br /While I take the author with a grain of salt and do not appreciate his collaboration with Phil Agee, who betrayed his oaths to the US, whatever his reasons, on balance this book is an essential reference for anyone who wishes to understand why the rest of the world is beginning to conclude that we are the worst of all evils in our foreign policy behavior and misbehavior.br /br /Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracybr /The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our Worldbr /The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)br /Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Centurybr /Why We Fightbr /Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025br /War Is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by America's Most Decorated General, Two Other Anti=Interventionist Tracts, and Photographs from the Horror of Itbr /Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press 'Project Truth'br /Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)br /Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraqbr /
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