Why do surveys consistently show that people around the world say they are fond of Americans, but dislike or hate the American government?  In this lively yet scholarly work, Blum et al reveal the suppression of democratic movements around the world, at the cost of millions killed and tortured by dictatorships which our government supplies with arms and money .  The authors argue that the goal is to prevent alternative models of democracy from emerging which are independent of the American economic sphere.  Important for understanding what your government is doing in your name without your knowledge, since the gory details of the American overthrow of democratic governments rarely make it into the mainstream press. 

John Stockwell is the highest-ranking and most highly-decorated CIA officer to date to resign in protest of his countrys' actions in the Third World, saying he could no longer reconcile what he was asked to do with his Methodist Christian upbringing.  He argues U.S. policy in the Third World deliberately fosters instability in order to justify weapons expenditures in the post Cold War era. 

The American-backed genocide of over 200,000 mostly innocent civilians in Guatemala, mostly indigenous people, was one of this century's most brutal and least-reported episodes.  This classic tells the story of the overthrow of democratically-elected Jacobo Arbenz, which led to it.

Covers much of the same ground as "Killing Hope," above, but in a less exhaustive and more summary-like fashion.  Better for those who just want the skinny.

A 14 year old "Northcountry mall rat" from a screwed-up family in upstate New York befriends a homeless old Rastafarian, who becomes his mentor and changes his outlook on life.

A Civil War Confederate soldier becomes disgusted with the carnage and tries to desert the war, but the war seems to follow him as he attempts to heal his soul, and find his way to the woman he loves.
 

(Our lead piece this week remains Jason Halperin's Patriot Raid.  This is the true story what happened to an American citizen in his hometown of New York.  This could happen to you...)

Patriot Raid

By Jason Halperin

Published by AlterNet 
April 29, 2003 

A month ago I experienced a very small taste of what hundreds of South Asian immigrants and U.S. citizens of South Asian descent have gone through since 9/11, and what thousands of others have come to fear. I was held, against my will and without warrant or cause, under the USA PATRIOT Act......

(No need for conspiracy "theories," everything is in hardcopy in the government's own document rooms.  In the Seventies the army and the CIA admitted to subjecting U.S. citizens to diabolical experiments without their knowledge.  Here is an online copy of "Stock No. 052-070-04357-1", the 1977 U.S. Senate Hearing on MKULTRA.)