History - Week five - Essay Example

Stephen Kinzer: OVERTHROW The is very renowned all round the world; he is an in the United s of America and a news paper reporter.He has been working with the New York Times for quite sometime now. He has covered the whole globe as far as reporting is concerned. He has left no place unreported in his reports, which are very interesting to read. “The 1980s saw him focus his attention upon the Central America. In 1990, he was promoted to bureau chief of the Berlin bureau and covered the growth of Eastern and Central Europe as they emerged from Soviet rule.

He was also New York Times bureau chief in Istanbul (Turkey) from 1996 to 2000. He currently teaches journalism and United States foreign policy at Northwestern University. Kinzer has written several non-fiction books about Turkey, Central America, Iran, the US overthrow of foreign governments from the late 19th century to the present and, most recently, about Rwandas recovery from genocide. He has spoken out widely against a potential U.S. attack on Iran, warning that it would destroy the pro-US sentiment that has become widespread among the Iranian populace under the repressive Islamic regime.

” (Wikipedia, August 11, 2008). The book is all about the quest of the United States to conquer more and more countries and to make a dominant name for itself in the world. The United States deployed many strong arms tactics to fulfill their aim of being the ultimate power in the world. This era saw a revolution in the tactics applied by the United States, they starting spreading democracy and at the same time started building up a strong army and an equally strong navy base, another significant change was the Americans brought foreign governments under there control during this era.

The most dreadful villain in the book is John Foster Dulles; he was a lawyer and took care of the foreign capital of the countries which surrendered themselves to the policies of the United States. “Dulles was Eisenhowers secretary of state and his brother Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA -- a nefarious partnership that colluded together with unchecked unanimity.” (Swans, n, a). The book tells about the people who took matters in their own hands to topple foreign governments. The author talks about the three eras in the book namely, the imperial era.

This saw countries Cuba, Puerto Rico and a few others come under the control of the United States. The second is the cold war era which saw United States employ strict rules on the countries like Iraq, Chile etc. The book explains why United States has pursued there quest and what disastrous circumstances have they suffered in doing the same. The United States took countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to task assuming that they had weapons of mass destruction but this assumption was very wrong, the end proves this, no concrete proof was found in these countries of any kind of weapons.

The book puts the Bush-Iraq fiasco into historical perspective. “The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not an isolated episode. It was the culmination of a 110-year period during which Americans overthrew fourteen governments that displeased them for various ideological, political, and economic reasons.” (Kinzer, n, a). By this the author means that the United States has been notorious and there have been numerous instances which prove the same.” They voted for Reagan in 1980 because he promised to restore the “standing” of the United States.

” (Kinzer 220). The meaning of this statement is that the people at that time in the country were so desperate for peace that out of compulsion they elected Reagan as the president, they wanted things to change for better, they were sick and tired of the way their country was trying to dominate the other countries. People who are concerned with the foreign affairs should read this book at any cost.” Reagan repeated his offer, but the disturbed man on the other end of the line could not bring himself to speak.

” (Kinzer 221). All this goes to show that the people at that time wanted there country to be liberal towards the other countries but United States has always been a very different country and will always be. The book enlightens the people who are unsure of the policies of the United States and it’s a real eye opener for all those people who are not well aware of the policies adopted by the United States. After reading the book not even Bush should raise a question, asking why is he hated the world over.

REFERENCESStephen Kinzer (2008). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 12, 2008 from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_KinzerStephen Kinzer, Overthrow. In Stephen Kinzer Books. Retrieved August 12, 2008 from:http://www.stephenkinzer.com/books.html