What a wonderful book about the Dulles brothers. The book is divided into 3 sections with the first being a fascinating look that the Brothers and their families, families that included 2 US Secretaries of State and then the Brothers involvement in high stakes legal and diplomatic efforts. The second section outlines 6 of the covert actions the brothers were involved in from Iran and Guatemala to Cuba and the Bay of Pigs. A fascinating look at US Foreign policy from the late 1940’s through the early 1960’s. A lot of revisionism is seen in this book, and sometimes 20-20 hindsight makes the Brothers actions look even worse in the 21st Century. A third section neatly wraps things up. I have read other of Kinzer’s books and he is extremely detail oriented. He is dead-on with his facts and research and that makes this and all his other books necessary reading for those interested in the US role in role in the world (As good as this book is, his previous book “Overthrow” is even better!) from the days of the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy until today. This is not a fast book to read, nor should it be. The topic is heavy, the actions and results are extremely consequential and we all have to come face to face with US foreign policies for the past 125 years. |
