Overthrow

America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

By: Stephen Kinzer

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

A fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States has toppled 14 foreign governments, not always to its own benefit.

"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is the latest, though perhaps not the last, example of the dangers inherent in these operations.

In Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer tells the stories of the audacious politicians, spies, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers. He also shows that the U.S. government has often pursued these operations without understanding the countries involved; as a result, many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences.

©2006 Stephen Kinzer (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Kinzer] brings a rich narrative immediacy to all of his stories." (Publishers Weekly)
"Kinzer's narrative abounds with unusual anecdotes, vivid description, and fine detail, demonstrating why he ranks among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling." (The Washington Post's Book World)

Eye Opening and Entertaining History at it's best

Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow is an incredibly well written account of America's control of other nations throughout the 20th century and beyond. This book is a great read! It doesn't drag or get bogged down in tedious details. Rather, Mr. Kinzer uses jaw-dropping quotes, excerpts, and first-hand accounts from eyewitnesses to bring this history to life. Every American would do well to know this history as it is often not covered in schools. (I should know, I teach history for a living!)

A Great read.

Kinzer's books should be must reading for all high school kids so they can understand where the previous leaders of our country went completely wrong. My 14 year old is reading them and going to drive his History teacher crazy.

The History We All Need To Read

This is the best story of America's failed collective egotism and political greed and crimes.

Things we were not taught about in school

I must admit that I fell for the false narrative that Bush used to justify the Iraq War in 2003. For the most part, however, I have always been disturbed by America's endless wars. Nevertheless, I don't think I was fully aware of the extent of America's injustices until I listened to this book (and I still might not be fully aware). This book describes how America overthrew 14 governments by creating or supporting revolutions and coups, starting in the late 1800s with Hawaii and its queen. I learned about wars I never knew happened. I had no idea, for example, about the particularly brutal Philippine-American War that went from 1899 to 1902. I have also never heard the events that led to the Vietnam War that are described in this book. The sad part is that our actions have not stopped since this book was published in 2006. We can probably add Libya, Syria, and, yes, even Ukraine to this list. It is truly tragic how much suffering we have caused as a country for many people (although this book does acknowledge that there have been exceptions). I'm actually not surprised that we are not taught these things in school. It's easier to cover things up and pretend they never happened.

Mistakes

More than a century of miss steps and mistakes as the United States stumbled from overthrow to overthrow of nations and governments with little understanding of what it meant.

Required Reading for Americans

I wish I had read Kinzer’s work before I fell for the hype surrounding the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Any American can benefit from Kinzer’s thorough but accessible rundown of American regime change.

Just remember that this work was published in 2006, so while Kinzer covers the Iraq and Afghanistan situations in reasonable detail, don’t expect discussion of the “troop surge,” the Obama administration’s policies, or the Trump administration.

Required reading for every US voter.

Ideas and history that are being neglected and leading the empire of the US to it’s grave.

What’s with all the weird accents?

This is a great book that shows many of the problems with foreign policy of the United States over the past 130 years. The only problem I have is with the narration. The narrator chooses to use accents that have nothing to do with the person who is speaking. I found it very annoying.

Looking at the dark side

Like most countries, the US tends to highlight its successes and downplay its failures, thinking itself an idealistic champion and denying avaricious or base motivations.

This book provides some balance to that PR-driven view by filling in some of the darker chapters of our history, ones rarely taught in our public schools.

As the author states in his introduction, "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."

The author isn't talking here about the world wars. He describes actions that were often based on a desire to protect American (sometimes multinational) corporations, though the public rationale was spun as protecting our national security or liberation of those in the country whose government was to be overthrown.

Some of these histories are well known, most are not to anyone who hasn't benefited from some college-level exposure to the history and politcs of the 20th century.

There's plenty here that will help put our actions into better perspective.

What Every President Should Know

This is an excellent, concise look at fourteen cases of American "regime change" overseas, from Hawaii in the 1890s to Iraq in 2003. Most Americans are simply unaware of this dismal history of violent prerogative, much of it at the behest of American companies. (United Fruit actually zaps two countries.) The book provides a good historical background to Bush's wars and makes for a compelling antidote to audiobooks of gauzy patriotism like "Empire of Trust."

While much of the tale is grisly and infuriating, especially in Guatemala and Chile, there are lighter moments. It is well worth it to learn that McKinley saw it as his Christian duty to save the souls of heathens in the Philippines, not even realizing they were already Christian; or to be reminded that the marine assault with which Reagan toppled about a handful of homegrown "socialists" in the tiny island of Grenada to save about 30 American medical students who didn't know they needed to be saved was named "Operation Urgent Fury!"