1. What is Kinzer’s thesis (what is he arguing in this book)?
Kinzer’s thesis in the book the Overthrow is regime change in the United States. The author explains how regime change has been happening over one hundred years and how it is nothing new for the United States. He well explains and gives great example of how the United States is willing to do anything to other governments in order for them to accomplish their goals. Kinzer states that the US has overthrown fourteen different foreign governments around the world such as Hawaii, Chile, Iraq, South Vietnam, and others. The government overthrows these countries without misgiving the outcomes they will cause to them. “In most cases, however, it acted mainly for economic reasons-
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Another example is the overthrow of Nicaragua. The United States overthrow Nicaragua with the excuse that they wanted security for the US. When in reality it was because they were supporting companies from the United States that wanted to work in Nicaragua. In my opinion, the United States was an egoist in most of their overthrows because they only cared of their own benefits.
3. Geographically, where does each chapter focus (ie. Hawaii, Afghanistan, etc.)? Do any of the locations surprise you?
Chapter one focuses on: Hawaii
Chapter two focuses on: Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico president McKinley
Chapter three focuses on: Nicaragua
Chapter four focuses on: Virginia, Honduras
Chapter six focuses on: Guatemala
Chapter seven focuses on: South Vietnam
Chapter eight focuses on: Chile
Chapter nine focuses on: Iran
Chapter ten focuses on: Grenada
Chapter eleven focuses on: Panama
Chapter twelve focuses on: Afghanistan
Chapter thirteen focuses on: Iraq
Chapter fourteen focuses on: Iraq
In reality, most of these locations surprise me because I would have never imagined that the US overthrew many countries. I was never well informed of all the overthrows the US has done especially in the way they did it. In most of the history classes, I have taken they usually try to make the US look good and never like the “bad” country. For that reason, is why I really enjoyed and appreciated this book.
4. Who are the main historical actors in each chapter (i.e. who are the
When America entered into the Second World War it made their friends from different region and everywhere in the world to unite and fight for freedom and also fight against fascism. Ronald Takaki, a famous historian finds out that the armed fight for democracy abroad was followed by disregard of America that everyone was made or created equal. There was racism of all kinds; segregation of African Americans and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and also denying to overall asylum to the Jewish refugees.
As stronger nations exercise their control over weaker ones, the United States try to prove their authority, power and control over weaker nations seeing them as unable to handle their own issues thereby, imposing their ideology on them. And if any of these weaker nations try to resist, then the wrath of the United States will come upon them. In overthrow the author Stephen Kinzer tells how Americans used different means to overthrow foreign government. He explains that the campaign & ideology of anti- communism made Americans believe that it was their right and historical obligation to lead forces of good against those of iniquity. They also overthrew foreign government, when economic interest coincided with their ideological ones
In Round-Trip to America: The Immigrants Return to Europe 1880-1930, Mark Wyman argues that many new immigrants that migrated to America from 1880-1930 never intended to make America a permanent residence and many of them returned home to their native countries. He claims that this phenomena is important to the history of American Immigration and is important to the histories of the home land in which the immigrants returned to. In his book, Wyman explores some key ideas such as the reason immigrants decided to voyage to a new land, across the ocean, to what was known as the “land of milk and honey” only to return to their small, and a lot of the time rural village. He also discusses American labor movement and what impact that had on
In The Theory of Infantile Citizenship, Lauren Berlant classifies Washington DC as a domestic crossroads wherein the local meets the national. Berlant investigates in detail the secrete mechanism in which citizenship is created and multiplied in the intimate, and private, way but through the imagined public sphere. She addresses the question of how a person begins to understand the country they feel as though they belong to, and how one comes to comprehend themselves in relation to their country. This leads to the acknowledgement of the separation of how one perceives their nation, versus how it actually functions. In Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, the novel illustrates how the left-liberal comprehension of fascism has changed
The United States has influenced many nations in the world throughout history. Some of the ways the U.S. has been able to dominate poor countries are with military action and corporate activities that allowed the United States to influence their governments. Since the United States extends its power with the previously mentioned methods, it is recognized as an imperialist nation. The United States has specifically demonstrated imperialistic forces in Latin America. The effects that the United States’ imperialism had on Latin American economies and politics were negative since it brought violence and caused the poor to struggle even more. When the United Sates government did not like policies that Latin American presidents were creating, they would take military actions to force American ideologies into Latin American countries’ governments by installing puppets into their governments. Generally, these countries would have flourished economically without the United States, but since the U.S. became involved with the countries’ policies, their economies have weakened because the U.S. wants the benefits of controlling countries’ resources without being responsible for the people who reside there. This pattern of the United States’ imperialistic behavior has been demonstrated many times in Latin America.
Every Story has geography, no matter if it is set in outer space or revolutionary France there is always geography and it will steer the course and structure of its story. When telling a story of a grand adventure and its obstacles it would not completely be based in a jail cell, or even a story of a poet’s uprising wouldn’t be set in prehistoric times where literacy has not even been thought of. If a story is to be told right it must be placed right. Questions about a story of who, what, how, when, are not as important as the question of where. Writers use geography to compose stories through pre existing thoughts and influences of those areas to develop their text, select characters in The Crucible develop in response to the geography and setting, and finally geography has an influence on me because it shapes our opinion and generally accepted actions.
The book The Ugly American clearly demonstrates several of the established Special Operations Force (SOF) imperatives outlined in ADRP 6-22. As a Special Forces soldier I can relate these imperatives to stories illustrated in the book and apply them to real life situations that I have experienced in the field. The Ugly American is a goldmine of wisdom and a handbook for special warfare. All Special Operations soldiers should read it.
The United States government engaged in “regime change operations” throughout the late 19th and 20th Centuries. The United States government overthrown foreign governments for economic benefits. Some economic benefits that were gained would be promoting American economic interests and access to natural resources. For instance securing trade and support for American private investment abroad was another way United States gained economic benefits. While reading the book Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer there are examples on how United States overthrow Hawaii, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Panama. In document 20, Exploring American Histories by Nancy A. Hewitt and Steven F. Lawson what is discussed is imperial expansion (Hewitt and Lawson 644).
13. Have you read the author’s other books? Can you discern a similarity (in theme, writing style, structure, etc.) between them, or are they completely different?
America’s first spy ring, better known as the Cupler ring, was Washington’s carefully thought out solution to gain intelligence on the overpowering British troops. The revolution was happening; there was no turning back and no denying that America was going to gain independence from Great Britain. Washington needed a plan, a way to foresee what the British planned to do next. Washington’s only solution was to resort to spying.
Although all of the cases are different, they all lead to the same outcome. America does not comprehend that they do not need to be in control of other countries and that they should be independent from the United States. America is focused on short-term goals instead of the longer goals when their short victories turn into tragic consequences. Whether the United States is trying to overthrow the president of another country, trying to secure an oil-pipeline route, or overthrowing an entire country, America needs to learn that we cannot control those countries who are trying to be independent. Instead, the United States needs to focus on what is going on in the states rather than what is going on outside of
The motivation behind US endeavors during the Cold War was to interfere with Latin American countries politically to counter the spread of communist ideologies that were seen by the US as being directly opposed to its economic and philosophical interests. The US’ economic interests were spread and consolidated through corporations operating within Latin America such as Alcoa, United Fruit, and others. It is through these corporate interests, which were under threat of nationalizion in their respective countries by leftist governments taking hold, that the US justified much of its involvement toppling governments in the region.
Pinochet was put into power . This is a perfect example of how the US foreign policy replaced genuine democracy with dictatorship for their own benefit, and again, supposedly in the name of National Security. Latin America was a victim of US foreign policy and corporate greed.
Daniel Drezner explains the ideas that many feminist’s share: the world is vastly different for women than it is for men. The gap between the genders is to the detriment of women. Radical feminist would concur with this point. Radical feminism centers on the idea that the suppression of the female gender is the main focus of all oppression within the world (Rowland and
As stated earlier, a state may use ethnic, cultural, historical, or religious reasons to attempt to conquer new territory, but they can also be used as reasoning for a state wanting to enact different policies in a state with different views. The United States is responsible for doing this, as numerous times we have invaded another country in an attempt to overthrow a regime and institute a democracy. States can also be compelled to invade a country due to their mistreatment of citizens, such as the United States’ invasion of Libya in 2011 “for its attacks on civilians while trying to suppress an armed uprising” (World Politics 87). In summary, systemic wars can be caused due to a desire for territory, disputes over a territory, policy disagreements, and regime changes.