Abstract

The United States has shaped Latin American history, condemning it to poverty and inequality by intervening to protect the rich and powerful. America’s Backyard tells the story of that intervention. Using newly declassified documents, Grace Livingstone reveals the US role in the darkest periods of Latin American history, including Pinochet’s coup in Chile, the Contra War in Nicaragua and the death squads in El Salvador. She shows how George W Bush’s administration used the War on Terror as a new pretext for intervention; how it tried to destabilise leftwing governments and push back the ‘pink tide’ washing across the Americas. America’s Backyard also includes chapters on drugs, economy and culture. It explains why US drug policy has caused widespread environmental damage yet failed to reduce the supply of cocaine, and it looks at the US economic stake in Latin America and the strategies of the big corporations. Today Latin Americans are demanding respect and an end to the Washington Consensus. Will the White House listen?
Grace Livingstone is a journalist specialising in Latin American affairs. She was a reporter for The Guardian in Venezuela and has also worked for the BBC World Service and written for The Observer, The New Statesman and The Tablet. She is the author of Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy and War (2003).
'Packed with telling information and written with both verve and attention to detail, this book addresses the key issues in a perennially uneven and generally unjust relationship. Readers coming to the theme for the first time will benefit from a lucid synthesis of the voluminous literature in the field, whilst those more familiar with Pan-American affairs will find much useful material and discussion on developments in recent years.' James Dunkerley, University of London 'A useful and timely account of US strategy towards Latin America over the past half century, revealing its intrinsic weaknesses and the profound ignorance and prejudice of US policymakers. Grace Livingstone’s book covers wide ground in an original and compelling narrative.' Richard Gott, author of Cuba: A New History. 'The US in Latin America - good neighbour or big bad wolf? Grace Livingstone sets aside the pious euphemisms of a past age and shows it has been much more the latter than the former. She also shows how US hegemony is draining away as the republics start forging their own destiny at last.' Hugh O'Shaughnessy, author of Pinochet: The Politics of Torture