America, América (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

This is a review for America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin. The book tells the story of the Western world from Spanish conquistadors onward. Repeatedly, we learn of revolutionary thinkers (de las Casas, Bolívar, Martí, Gaitán, Allende, etc.) who were crushed by capitalist governments. Throughout its history, the United States worked to destroy social democracy in Latin America through military coups, assassinations, sanctions, and the support of mass-murdering dictators. Any foreign leader who undermined United States corporate interests was dealt with. The rare exception was during the FDR administration when the war in Europe forced the United States to make allies. From the epilogue: “No other comparable nation, not even Thatcher’s, presided over such an enormous redistribution of wealth upward, creating a superclass of billionaires immune to democratic control. None so happily let its political class and institutions fall captive to money, while at the…