Killing Hope

In Killing Hope, William Blum, author of the bestselling Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, provides a devastating and comprehensive account of America's covert and overt military actions in the world, all the way from China in the 1940s to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and - in this updated edition - beyond. Is the United States, as it likes to claim, a global force for democracy? Killing Hope shows the answer to this question to be a resounding 'no'.

William Blum is one of the United States' leading non-mainstream experts on American foreign policy. He left the State Department in 1967, abandoning his aspiration of becoming a Foreign Service Officer because of his opposition to what the US was doing in Vietnam. He then became a founder and editor of the Washington Free Press, the first 'alternative' newspaper in the capital. Blum has been a freelance journalist in the US, Europe and South America, and is the author of Rogue State and America's Deadliest Export.

Author's note Introduction to the new edition Introduction to the original edition 1. China 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-Tung just paranoid? 2. Italy 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style 3. Greece 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state 4. The Philippines 1940s and 1950s: America's oldest colony 5. Korea 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be? 6. Albania 1949-1953: The proper English spy 7. Eastern Europe 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor 8. Germany 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism 9. Iran 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings 10. Guatemala 1953-1954: While the world watched 11. Costa Rica mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally, Part one 12. Syria 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government 13. The Middle East 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America 14. Indonesia 1957-1958:War and pornography 15. Western Europe 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts 16. British Guiana 1953-1964: The CIA's international labour Mafia 17. Soviet Union late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing 18. Italy 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal's orphans and techno-fascism 19. Vietnam 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus 20. Cambodia 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism 21. Laos 1957-1973: L'Armee Clandestine 22. Haiti 1959-1963: The marines land, again 23. Guatemala 1960: One good coup deserves another 24. France/Algeria 1960s: L'etat, c'est la CIA 25. Ecuador 1960-1963: A textbook of dirty tricks 26. The Congo 1960-1964: The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba 27. Brazil 1961-1964: Introducing the marvellous new world of death squads 28. Peru 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle 29. Dominican Republic 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy 30. Cuba 1959-1980s: The unforgivable revolution 31. Indonesia 1965: Liquidating President Sukarno.and 500,000 others. East Timor 1975: and 200,000 more 32. Ghana 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line 33. Uruguay 1964-1970: Torture - as American as apple pie 34. Chile 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child's forehead 35. Greece 1964-1974: 'Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution,' said the President of the United States 36. Bolivia 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d'etat 37. Guatemala 1962 to 1980s: A less publicised 'final solution' 38. Costa Rica 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally, Part two 39. Iraq 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work 40. Australia 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust 41. Angola 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game 42. Zaire 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven 43. Jamaica 1976-1980: Kissinger's ultimatum 44. Seychelles 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance 45. Grenada 1979-1984: Lying - one of the few growth industries in Washington 46. Morocco 1983: A video nasty 47. Suriname 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman 48. Libya 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match 49. Nicaragua 1981-1990: Destabilisation in slow motion 50. Panama 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier 51. Bulgaria 1990: Teaching Communists what democracy is all about 52. Iraq 1990-1991: Desert holocaust 53. Afghanistan 1979-1992: America's Jihad 54. El Salvador 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington style 55. Haiti 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this man? 56. The American Empire: 1992 to the present. Notes Appendix I: This is how money goes round Appendix II: Instances of use of United States Armed Forces abroad, 1798-1945 Appendix III: US Government assassination plots