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Rating: 
Summary: A real eye opener
Review: For example:Mr. Blum quotes Sir Winston Churchill in detailing the U.S. invasion of the Soviet Union. Everything is well-documented and all the primary and secondary sources are cited so that the objective reader can find all the facts for himself/herself. Here is the quote by Sir Winston Churchill: "Were they [the Allies] at war with Soviet Russia? Certainly not; but they shot Soviet Russians at sight. They stood as invaders on Russian soil. They armed the enemies of the Soviet Government. They blockaded its ports, and sunk its battleships. They earnestly desired and schemed its downfall. But war -- shocking! Interference -- shame! It was, they repeated, a matter of indifference to them how Russians settled their own internal affairs. They were impartial -- Bang!" Winston Churchill, The World Crisis: The Aftermath (London, 1929), p. 235 http://www.killinghope.org/
Rating: 
Summary: A disservice to the nation.
Review: Many would argue against the validity of Mr. Blum's facts. I do not. If you closely examine his sources, they hold up well under rigorous examination. What I dislike about this book, and the likes of Mr. Blum, is the agenda of anti-Americanism. Mr. Blum is quite correct in implicating the US government and American corporations in a spectrum of mass murders, assassinations, tortures, rapes and terror in general. This is all correct but he fails to acknowledge that this is the manner in which all empires have comported themselves. There is no reason to expect us to behave differently. These are the necessary means of maintaining an empire as well as the costs required to sustain the American lifestyle. Insisting on anything different is not only unrealistic, but asks us to betray of our way of life. George Bush Sr. put it clearly, "the American way of life is not up for negotiation." The price of our cherished lifestyle is high. Whether its 5,000,000 dead Southeast Asians or 500,000 dead Iraqi children, the price is worth it. Even Secretary of State Madeline Albright, a lefty Democrat, said so on CBS' 60 minutes. Blum and his anti-American agenda refuses to accept this fact.
What Mr. Blum refers to our "killing hope" in the world is nothing less than what pumps money and oil into our economy. It is the tribute due to the nation that dominates the world. Mr. Blum fails to mention a single word about our civilizing effect on what he calls the "victims" of our actions. It is as absurd as claiming that the "victims" of slavery gained nothing from their association with the civilizing force of a morally advanced Christian society. (I'm sure Chris Matthews of MSNBC and his comments on Muhammad Ali would back me on this point.) Mr. Blum's unwillingness to refer to these trickle-down benefits exposes his bias. Likewise, Blum lacks a balanced perspective. He could learn a lot about fair and balanced reporting by simply watching some television. He ignores the positive effects of our interventions while monotonously pleading a case for either the millions of dead that the process of keeping the world in line requires, or anyone that might foolishly resist our efforts in incorporating their natural resources into our corporate and national interests. One thing doesn't do is spend time on the obstinance of these people. How dare they resist our advances? What right do they think they have to their labor or natural resources?
What Mr. Blum says is true only to a degree. His greatest inaccuracy is that he has divorced his account of American foreign policy from the context of our unique virtue and God-given mandate. At times I felt myself trembling with rage at how he freely soils our good name, (another reason the 1st amendment needs to be restricted). His ignorance of our purity is enraging. America is almost a second Israel. How could anyone argue with that? Books like this threaten our national security by exposing dangerous facts that might sway public opinion against our behavior abroad. For such reasons it might be a good idea to ban or censor this book.
Rating:
Summary: Reply to a Christian American
Review: The one-star review by "A Christian American" to be seen among these reviews is per se the very best demonstration of why every person in the USA ought to read this book, as well as Howard Zinn's People's History. It's hard to believe that anyone claiming to be a Christian could express such diabolically selfish, racist,opportunistic values. Shall we perhaps conclude that the review is a parody?
Rating:
Summary: A Must-have reference book
Review: This an excellent book - well organized with the right amount of detail and a good starting point for those who want to learn about the cia's and the military's sordid history. The 2003 edition has 56 chapters on different episodes in different countries. I got mine from the library and was so impressed, I'm buying my own copy. It's really a must-have to get a good idea of where our foreign policy has gone wrong since WWII.
Rating:
Summary: A Blindly-biased Opinion Piece; Seek Scholarship Elsewhere
Review: This book deserves ten stars because it's one of the most important books ever written. From this work one learns that the CIA, and officials from the U.S. Military and Government (including Presidents) have been complicit accomplices (directly or indirectly) in the deaths of at least a million people. So, so much for the U.S.'s War on Terror...members of our government have been acting as a terrorists for some time now! And others around the world know this. I would suggest that for a more in-depth reading experience, refer to the footnotes at the end of the book
while reading each chapter. This helps you find credible sources for any independent research you might want to do on your own and also let's you know where the author is getting such valuable information. The book is well documented. William Blum has done excellent research.
Read and be sad, angry, dumbdfounded, disturbed, or enlightened.
Rating:
Summary: definitive
Review: This has got to be the definitive book on US foreign policy since WWII. Blum goes through how the CIA has been involved in drug trafficking, producing pornography, providing handbooks, materials & encouragement for torture, how the military did chemical & biological tests on the general public, etc. It's all written in a ridiculous amount of detail, mainly citing sources that use internal government documents, or the writings of people in the 3rd world who got bombed nonstop. & yes, at times the author uses sarcasm & black humor, which greatly helps with readability, since the reading could easily become very heavy without it. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Best book on the topic...
Review: This is perhaps the best political book I have read, certainly the best on US foreign policy I have seen anywhere. Every American needs to get this book and investigate what it says. If they doubt its truthfulness they can look in other places to find further information, but the plain fact is most Americans would not know 99% of what is in this book...and they have to or our "democracy" is a joke. Even if this book is biased, a biased view that can be investigated is better than total ignorance. However I do not think this book is that biased to begin with, most of the actual facts exist in thousands of other books, they have just never been brought together so effectively.
While there are a lot of books out there on the evils of American foreign policy, this is the only one I have seen that goes through country by country, state by state to show how we intervened, year after year. There are other books by authors such as Noam Chomsky that may contain more detail and analysis, but none are as complete or are ordered so well.
After you read this you cannot help but put foreign policy as the main issue you care about in politics. Sure domestic issues are important, but what can that compare to us literally participating in the killing of thousands, and in some cases millions overseas? How can you even weigh domestic concerns compared to supporting torturing dictators for decades? The fact is our foreign policy is not that of the Nazi's, it differs in one very important way: we have gotten away with it for 50 years.
This book will give you as ugly a view of America as there is, but if you want to improve things (if thats even possible anymore) you need to start with the ugly truth.
Rating:
Summary: Higly Informative
Review: Written by a former State Department employee, the author's wealth of knowledge and experience are thoroughly impressive, and this book is very easy to read and follow. Beginning at the end of WWII, the author lists, by country, US military involvement in chronological order. Readers will find the consequences - some of which are being seen today - profoundly interesting. Another reviewer mentioned that the book had a "blame America first" slant, but I sincerely doubt that reviewer read the entire book. While the book does specifically mention US involvement in the overthrow of democratically elected governments in places like Iran, Chile, and Indonesia, these incidents are generally known now. The people responsible are blamed, not the American people who were not privy to such Washington secrets. It is interesting to read why Washington powerbrokers chose military intervention: In some cases bowing to political interests, in other cases with fine intentions, in most cases not foreseeing the negative consequences for the US and the world. This book provides a concise background for the state of the world today.
Rating:
Summary: Higly Informative
Review: Written by a former State Department employee, the author's wealth of knowledge and experience are thoroughly impressive, and this book is very easy to read and follow. Beginning at the end of WWII, the author lists, by country, US military involvement in chronological order. Readers will find the consequences - some of which are being seen today - profoundly interesting. Another reviewer mentioned that the book had a "blame America first" slant, but I sincerely doubt that reviewer read the entire book. While the book does specifically mention US involvement in the overthrow of democratically elected governments in places like Iran, Chile, and Indonesia, these incidents are generally known now. The people responsible are blamed, not the American people who were not privy to such Washington secrets. It is interesting to read why Washington powerbrokers chose military intervention: In some cases bowing to political interests, in other cases with fine intentions, in most cases not foreseeing the negative consequences for the US and the world. This book provides a concise background for the state of the world today.
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