Little wonder that Noam Chomsky has recommended this book by William Blum. The below is from the introduction in the book:
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INTRODUCTION
The secret to understanding US foreign policy is that there is no secret. Principally, one must come to the realization that the United States strives to dominate the world, for which end it is prepared to use any means necessary. Once one understands that, much of the apparent confusion, contradiction, and ambiguity surrounding Washington’s policies fades away. To express this striving for dominance numerically, one can consider that since the end of World War II the United States has
• endeavored to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments, most of which were democratically elected • grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries • attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders • dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries • attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20 countries.
In total: since 1945, the United States has carried out one or more of the above-listed actions, on one or more occasions, in seventy-one countries (more than one-third of the countries of the world), in the process of which the US has ended the lives of several million people, condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair, and has been responsible for the torture of countless thousands. US foreign policy has likely earned the hatred of most of the people in the world who are able to more or less follow current news events and are familiar with a bit of modern history.
