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In reply to the discussion: I never, ever thought I'd see the day [View all]hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Read "The Brothers" by Stephen Kinzer - a dual biography of Allen and John Foster Dulles, CIA director and Sec of State during the Eisenhower administration. Most of why the US government and its foreign policy is so hated around the world to this day is explained by that book.
The Dulles brothers manifested all the very worst qualities of Americans - inability to understand or even consider complexity, a truly nauseating missionary Calvinism, a belief that American big business should be able to do whatever it wants to whomever it wants anywhere in the world, and that rich, white "Christian" men should run the world. These values, which they built into the instruments of foreign policy, still dominate today.
One of the most enlightening books I have ever read. Well written and a good read, to boot.