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Rating: 
Summary: Fears of Rockville, MD reader are true
Review: I am currently a student at the University of Arizona in Dr. Gibbs' Individuals and Societies 103 class (entitled "What is Politics?), and can say that Dr. Gibbs applies his bias in most everything he teaches. While I have not read his Ph.D. dissertation, I can analyze what he does in classes and apply them to the likelihood of the quality of this work.About 50% of the real-life examples used in class are regarding the recent war in Iraq. About 75% of his example are either logical arguments by liberals or fallacious arguments by conservatives (usually by technical fallacy or by an example's failure to include obvious evidence). He clearly engages in selectively choosing which examples to use in order to push his agenda. I fear my views may be punished, though I am currently unable to tell because our first test is this Friday. As long as Dr. Gibbs continues to teach our class in this fashion, think about what kind of chicanery he could spin on foreign policy.
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Summary: MD reader lacks background knowledge
Review: If the maryland reader were more eruidite, he might find that Dr. Gibbs isn't the only intellectual who asserts that CIA-orchestrated coups in Guatemala were influenced by ties with banana corporations. In fact, it's practically common knowledge that the CIA was acting in the interest of united fruit co. when it implemented "Operation PBSUCCESS," for the LEGALLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED Guatemalan president at the time, Jacobo Arbenz, was implementing a land reform program that threatened US companies like United Fruit by enabling members of the guatemalan communist party to farm land that United fruit owned. There are a few Books and television documentaries that argue (quite convincingly) the claim that the coup in Guatemala was motivated by an american interest in preserving a "friendship" with united fruit company.One book, "Banana Wars" written by anthropologists Dr. Mark Moberg and Dr. Steve Striffler. There was also a segment in a history channel documentary on this , as well (Though, unfortunately) I forgot the title. Another great book on the matter is: "Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala" by: by Stephen C. Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer, John H. Coatsworth, John H. Coatsworth. At some point, people who find allegations that corporate interests manipulate US foreign policy absurd will have to face the fact that the american government would rather put profits and above people.
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Summary: Examines Power Brokers in U.S. Congo Policy
Review: Too much of U.S. scholarship avoids any mention of business interests, despite the fact that business organizations outspend labor unions and other interest factions by an overwhelming margin, whether in U.S. domestic politics or foreign policy. David Gibbs provides pathbreaking archival evidence of business divisions that influenced the shift in U.S. policy toward the Congo from the Eisenhower to the Kennedy Administrations. Gibbs persuasively argues that most accounts of U.S. policy toward the Congo fail to explain the extent to which both Eisenhower and Kennedy sought to appease U.S. business interests with a particular stake in the Congo's war for independence against colonial Belgium. The book is well-researched and lucid in its arguments, carefully examining both theories of U.S. foreign policy and their application to the Congo crisis. Very useful for anyone that wants to go beyond official explanations for U.S. foreign policy behavior in Africa and elsewhere.
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