Killing Hope

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum is a history book on covert CIA operations and United States military interventions during the second half of the 20th century. The book takes a strongly critical view of American foreign policy.[1]

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
First edition
AuthorWilliam Blum
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectCentral intelligence Agency (U.S.)
GenreHistory
PublisherCommon Courage Press
Publication date
1995
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages500 pp
ISBN1-56751-253-4
OCLC53832319
Preceded byWest-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir 
Followed byFreeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire 

The book covers various US foreign policy ventures from just after World War II onward. Its basic premise is that the American Cold War-era activities abroad were done with imperialist motives.[2] It is an updated and revised version of one of Blum's previous works, The CIA - A Forgotten History (1986).

Critical reception

Noam Chomsky called the book "far and away the best book on the topic."[3] John Stockwell described it as "[t]he single most useful summary of CIA history", Ramsey Clark judged it a "valuable contribution", and International Security's Teresa Pelton Johnson wrote: "Blum has performed a very important service in collecting this information in one place, and the documentation is praiseworthy."[4]

Ted Dace characterized Killing Hope as "[a] good, long look in the mirror".[5]

Reviewing the earlier version of the book, Choice's R. H. Immerman wrote: "By falling prey to the same Manichean absolutism that has hamstrung US global policies, Blum has compromised the credibility of his work. He has nevertheless produced a valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of US foreign policy."[6]

Julia Muravska unfavorably compared Killing Hope with the work of academic historians such as William Keylor, stating that Blum's criticism of the U.S. occurs in an historical vacuum without any consideration for Soviet actions that "would have also helped the reader understand what drove the US foreign policy decisions that today's citizens find so morally repugnant." Although she noted that much of the book is "heavily and meticulously footnoted," Muravska harshly criticized the 2014 edition's "The American Empire Post-Cold War" chapter for "unsubstantiated claims" and shallow analysis, observing that "Blum relies on ... RT to make his case" regarding the post-2013 Ukrainian crisis.[7]

Editions

First published in 1995,[8] it has since been updated several times by the author.

  • 2000 revised edition (Black Rose Books) ISBN 1-55164-096-1
  • 2003 revised edition (Common Courage Press) ISBN 1-56751-252-6
  • 2014 Updated Edition (Zed Books) ISBN 978-1783601776

See also

References
  1. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, The Gaither Reporter, Houston, Volume 3, Issue 4, 30 May 1996, p. 37. Online edition at proquest.com. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  2. Killing Hope page - U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II - William Blum, thirdworldtraveler.com. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  3. Daniel Falcone, Our Leaders Do Not Mean Well, truth-out.org, 4 January 2014.
  4. Killing Hope - Reviews, zedbooks.net. Retrieved 24 December 2018>
  5. Ted Dice, "Rogue: Is the U.S. simply a big bully?", The Manhattan Mercury, 8 October 2000, pp. 28-29.
  6. The CIA: A forgotten history: US global interventions since World War 2, sirsi.net. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  7. Muravska, Julia (2015-01-21). "Book Review: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, Updated Edition, by William Blum". LSE Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
  8. About William Blum, williamblum.org. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
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