A Short History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean

Since its early days, the United States has intervened hundreds of times in the affairs of Latin American countries from spying and proxy wars to major military invasions.  Interventions range from direct self–interest –– annexing Spanish and Mexican territory, or protecting U.S.–owned plantations and canals in Central America to activities more generally oriented toward spreading U.S.–style democracy –– training Latin American fighters to topple leftist governments, taking down strongmen in Panama and Haiti, and fighting drug cartels. A Short History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean presents a concise account of the full sweep of U.S. military interventions in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean from 1800 up to the present day. For each era, author Alan McPherson looks at five elements ––  causes, consequences, contestation, collaboration, and context to shed light on the economic, military, political, and cultural issues that have shaped U.S.–Latin America relations. McPherson also gives voice to the many Latin Americans who resisted U.S. intervention as well as to those who may have invited or accommodated it. The larger historical sweep of European colonization, westward expansion, the World Wars, the Cold War, and post–Cold War anxieties provides crucial background to these events. Engaging and thought–provoking, A Short History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean is an eye–opening compilation of two centuries of an important aspect of the history of the Americas.

Alan McPherson is Professor of International and Area Studies, ConocoPhillips Chair in Latin American Studies, and Director of the Center for the Americas at the University of Oklahoma. He has published eight books, including the prize–winning Yankee No! Anti–Americanism in U.S.–Latin American Relations (2003) and The Invaded: How Latin Americans and their Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations (2014).