Chomsky writes an excellent review of U.S. foreign policy with Latin America. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to gain insight into actions undertaken by America's governmental apparatus on other nations.

While this book by Chomsky may not be as up to date as some of his other works, it still creates a vivid understanding in the reader's mind about the true nature of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. This book includes interviews from the last fifteen years, focusing mostly in a broad sense on U.S. foreign policy and its effect on countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, The Dominican Republic, and various other countries. This book, like most of Chomsky's work, can sometimes come off as rather depressing. But honestly, as Chomsky points out, the U.S. record of subversion and destruction of democracy in Latin America is nothing but depressing. Chomsky also should not be critisized for telling the truth about U.S. foreign policies, which are primarily designed to promote American corporate greed over the needs of the majority of the people in Latin America. This book shows, like Chomsky's other works, a brilliant and honest analysis of U.S. foreign policy. Also, this book is so useful because it provides a great starting point for anyone interested in reading more in depth accounts of U.S. foreign intervention. Chomsky's strong point though, as readers need to understand, is in educating people about the true nature of corporate and governmental policies designed to rape the people of Latin America (not in telling individuals exactly what actions to take to fight opression). While this book is very depressing, I think that that's exactly the point. It is meant to enrage Americans, and push them to hold their politicians accountable for negligent, murderous behavior. My advice, pick up this book, and get to agitating. As anyone familiar with Chomsky understands, reading this book is not enough. Implicit in this book, as well as in the rest of his works is the idea that Americans must become active in struggling to end injustice. Once one understands that basic idea, it is much easier to read this book without feeling the sense of hopelessness many come away with after reading or listening to Chomsky. Overrall, a must read for anyone interested in freedom and democracy.

This compilation work on US policy and Latin America is a pretty devastating read, covering various topics in interviews from between 1984 and 1998. The previous critique regarding the material in some of the older interviews, or rather the absense of further material that has surfaced since, is understandable, but I found the wide timeline covered in the book to be more welcome than it was a detriment. The format highlights what has been at the heart of policy over all these respective years and events, namely, the consistent effort to manipulate and coerce the political arena and the people by any and all means necessary. Violence and other means of force are used to 'stack the court' with appropriately subservient 'leaders', typically under the guise of "democracy" while actually subverting it, and heaping more hardship on many of these already struggling countries and underprivileged people. Well worth the read.

Interestingly, the timing of my review of this particular book here is ironic. In the past week's events in Venezuela, we have just witnessed the US basically supporting (or at the very least utterly failing to condemn) the military overthrow of a democratically elected leader. I wouldn't be surprised to see information begin to surface of CIA complicity as the dust clears, nor would anyone else after reading this book. If it were being re-published in 2002, this fiasco could be just the latest chapter.