Overthrow By Stephen Kinzer

“The way to have power, is to take it” William Tweed proclaimed. In Stephen Kinzer’s book Overthrow, the United States thirst for power is shown as the author’s thesis goes into why the U.S shouldn’t be involved in overthrowing any governments. The book being written in a format where audiences of any mature age could gain insight into the United States foreign policies, their history, and their affects on the world. The author specifically discusses the attempts the United States made to overthrow various governments around the world unfortunately, failing to successfully put the country on it’s own feet. Kinzer uses history to bring these notions to life: America intervened for personal economic growth, most of the invasions of foreign lands

During the war with the Philippines, Kinzer includes a report from the Philadelphia Ledger stating that “our soldiers have pumped salt water into men to make them talk.” (Kinzer , 51) Not only were this tactics used but, the American soldiers used imprisonment, torture, and rape to accomplish their objectives. These tactics were not only used on soldiers, they were also used to toughen the life of civilians, “they killed hundreds of people, burned crops, slaughtered cattle, and destroyed dozens of settlements.” (Kinzer, 53) In some countries the military used air strikes as a way of retaliation or simply assassination of government officials. These strategies not only affected countries overseas but America itself. In my opinion, Kinzer should have included the effects of these tactics on the soldiers who implemented them and whether or not Americans back at home knew how brutally these innocent people were treated. However, Kinzer did a great job when it comes to explaining why these tactics were

Similar situation took place in Guatemala where “the United States crushed a democratic experiment that held great promise for Latin America” (Kinzer 147) Instead of helping the country get on it’s own feet, they lead the country to disaster. Another example Kinzer illustrates takes place in Chile as he states “CIA set out a decade long campaign of intervention and destabilization that ultimately tore Chile away from its democratic roots.” Not only are these interventions costly to the United States they take a great financial toll on the countries involved. Kinzer also speaks on the enormous affects of the Vietnam war and the image it posed for the United States. After the Vietnam war the United States lost its credibility when it comes to world events and interventions. Many people from around the world developed a different outlook on Americans due to these horrendous events that scared generations for life. It devastating to the reader to see how countries who were doing well on their own were shaken up by the invasions. Most of the countries that were financially stable were left with nothing but