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

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Macmillan, Feb 6, 2007 - Political Science - 400 pages

Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow provides a fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States has toppled fourteen foreign governments -- not always to its own benefit

"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 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, 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 the latest, though perhaps not the last, 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 monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers. He also shows that the U.S. government has often pursued these operations without understanding the countries involved; as a result, many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences.

In a compelling and provocative history that takes readers to fourteen countries, including Cuba, Iran, South Vietnam, Chile, and Iraq, Kinzer surveys modern American history from a new and often surprising perspective.

"Detailed, passionate and convincing . . . [with] the pace and grip of a good thriller." -- Anatol Lieven, The New York Times Book Review

 

Contents

Introduction
1
THE IMPERIAL
7
A Hell of a Time Up at the Palace
9
Bound for GooGoo Land
31
From a Whorehouse to a White House
56
A Break in the History of the World
78
COVERT ACTION
109
Despotism and Godless Terrorism
111
A Graveyard Smell
195
INVASIONS
217
Our Days of Weakness Are Over
219
Youre No Good
239
They Will Have Flies Walking Across Their Eyeballs
260
Thunder Run
281
Catastrophic Success
300
Notes
323

Get Rid of This Stinker
129
Not the Preferred Way to Commit Suicide
148
Were Going to Smash Him
170
Bibliography
345
Acknowledgments
365
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Stephen Kinzer is the author of Reset, Overthrow, All the Shah's Men, Crescent and Star, and numerous other books. An award-winning foreign correspondent, he served as The New York Times's bureau chief in Turkey, Germany, and Nicaragua and as The Boston Globe's Latin America correspondent. He teaches international relations at Boston University and is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and a columnist for The Guardian. He lives in Boston.

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