TITLE: OVERTHROW: AMERICA’S CENTURY OF REGIME CHANGE FROM HAWAII TO IRAQ

AUTHOR: Stephen Kinzer

DATE PUBLISHED: 2006

DATE READ: July 2007

NOTES: A well documented and impressive narrative of US intervention in foreign governments and the resulting disastrous consequences. Stephen Kinzer begins with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarch in the 1890s and ends with the invasion of Iraq. Clearly written with lots of new (for me) information – e.g. the Panama Canal was originally planned to go through Nicaragua. Although this is a serious piece of work it is very readable – in fact at times it reads like a novel and hard to put down.

The next time we hear of a US politician wondering why so many people seem to hold their country in contempt they should be directed to read this book and find the answer.