Kwitny, Jonathan. Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World. New York: Congdon & Weed, 1984. 435 pages.

Kwitny, a long-time journalist with the Wall Street Journal, offers a penetrating criticism of U.S. interventions and meddling throughout the world, mainly during the 1960s to 1980s. He takes a moral stand against U.S. foreign policy, and is very critical of America's failure to support free-enterprise -- e.g., by supporting dictators who run state-controlled economies (which leaves a reduced role for American multinationals), or when multinationals, working with dictators, stifle local capitalism. When dealing with the question of capitalism vs. socialism, Kwitny clearly admires the former. But by equating socialism with Soviet communism he deals from a loaded deck and the discussion suffers accordingly.

The American foreign policy fiascos examined at some length are those in Zaire, the Congo, Angola, Afghanistan, Iran, and Central America. The section on U.S. involvement in the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 was largely excised from a 1986 Penguin Books edition due to a libel suit brought against Kwitny by former New York Times reporter Kennett Love.

-- William Blum
ISBN 0-312-92178-0

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