Book Description
This book shows how Africa's former colonial powers--including Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain--trained members and leaders of colonial Armed Forces to be politically nonpartisan. Yet, the modern-day Armed Forces have become so politicized that many countries are today ruled or have already been ruled by military dictators through coups d'etat, occasionally for good reasons as the book points out. This book traces the historical and political evolution of these events and what bodes for Africa, where the unending military incursions into partisan politics are concerned.
Customer Reviews:
Unique Volume!.......2006-07-20
African Military History and Politics: Coups and Ideological Incursions,1900-Present is an examination of the intersection of the military and politics on the African continent during the 20th Century. The authors focus their attention on sub-Saharan Africa and attempt to discern the root cause of the political instability of this region in the post-colonial period. The book's authors, A.B. Assensoh and Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh, are both professors at Indiana University, in Afro-American Studies and Political Science respectively.
The eight chapters of this volume begin with a chapter concerning the end of the colonial period in African history. The authors rightly assert that European colonialism imposed artificial borders on the continent which exacerbated tensions between African ethnic groups. They also examine how religion, slavery (within the continent), and indigenous traditions and customs were affected by colonialism and the end of colonialism. In Chapter 2, the authors discuss the evolution of armed forces (including national police forces) in Africa. The authors believe that a very similar pattern of evolution took place in regards to African armed forces. The national police forces took on a "militarized" pattern, because they were principally organized to maintain internal order rather than to deal with legitimate crime. In addition, the remainder of the armed forces enjoyed a favored status within the colonial government and have, therefore, been seen in the post-colonial period as "status symbols" of the national leaders.
In Chapter 3, the authors explore the corrupt and dictatorial tendencies in much of sub-Saharan Africa that creates situations ripe for military intervention. As the authors point out, circumstances have often been so deplorable within the civilian governments that even the general populace has supported military coups. In Chapter 4, the authors present an overview of military (or police) leaders who have become civilian leaders in retirement or merely as a result of shedding their military garb. In Chapter 5, the authors present a generally negative portrait of military involvement in African politics. In Chapter 6, the authors deal with the thorny issue of the proliferation of coups throughout Africa.
While many of there coups were fomented by the international struggle of the Cold War, most found their basis in the internal conditions of the individual African nations. In Chapter 7, the authors continue the discussion of coups by examining them within their political and theoretical contexts. Finally, in Chapter 8, the authors endeavor bring together all of the events and conditions that have led to the political instability of sub-Saharan Africa.
The authors must be credited for presenting an accurate, "warts and all" picture of sub-Saharan Africa in the post-colonial period. While they do lay some of the blame for the problems of post-colonial Africa on the doorstep of the former colonial powers, the authors state clearly near the end of the book that, "It is, therefore, time for Africans and their leaders to `clean up' their political and economic acts." Despite being a well-written and researched book, I believe that readers who have no background in African history may well become lost in the minutiae of military and political events in sub-Saharan Africa.
Book Description
Isabel Allende's first memory of Chile is of a house she never knew. The "large old house" on the Calle Cueto, where her mother was born and which her grandfather evoked so frequently that Isabel felt as if she had lived there, became the protagonist of her first novel, The House of the Spirits. It appears again at the beginning of Allende's playful, seductively compelling memoir My Invented Country, and leads us into this gifted writer's world.
Here are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family -- grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends -- with whom readers of Allende's fiction will feel immediately at home. And here, too, is an unforgettable portrait of a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit. Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land -- "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" -- Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland. In My Invented County, she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin.
Two life-altering events inflect the peripatetic narration of this book: The military coup and violent death of her uncle, Salvador Allende Gossens, on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a writer. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on her newly adopted homeland, the United States, brought forth from Allende an overdue acknowledgment that she had indeed left home. My Invented Country, whose structure mimics the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance accrued between the author's past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants, and to all of us, who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.
Customer Reviews:
plain, honest style.......2006-06-13
She has a great way of making you feel like you are getting to know her personally; like you are having a conversation with someone that is going to become a your friend. "Paula" gave me the same impression. You can really identify with her emotions and see her perspective like she is some one you already know.
Poetic Journey.......2004-09-06
My Invented Country is Isabel Allende's best book yet. This amazing biography takes the reader on a poetic journey though Ms. Allende's young life. Her writing is stellar and poetic. This book is to be savored for its beauty of language. Writers dream of crafting sentences like these. Lovers of language will adore this book for its symmetry and grace. Readers of all ages will love it for its beautiful and absorbing story.
A Chilephile's delight.......2004-08-19
I guess one could describe this book as a beautiful woman's description of a beautiful country and its charming people. Let me get my prejudices out right up front: I have been fascinated by everything Chileno for over thirty years. The country has an amazing history, an incredibly varied topography (when God finished creating the world, he had a little bit of everything left over...so it He put it all in Chile) and wonderful people. Isabel Allende's nostalgic reminiscenses about her family and homeland are insightful, poignant and witty. The author commendably keeps politics to a minimum, but consequently barely touches on her country's troubled recent past and the healing process that is still a work in progress. Moreover, since Ms. Allende writes as an exile, one wonders whether her characterizations remain accurate in the aftermath of the rise and fall of Pinochet. Be that as it may, this is a delightful glimpse into the Chilean persona. This slim volume is not literature, but after reading Ms. Allende's paean to Chile, I was left with only two desires: to visit the country again as soon as possible and to meet the author. Fortunately the former is always an option.
almost Faulknerish.......2004-05-18
Allende's original work must be beautifully and well written in Spanish or else the translator did an excellent job. Seems to me that her writing is almost Faulkner-ish... a kind of classical ranting while accounting for family history and characters through personal experience and skewed perspectives... almost what is called stream of consciousness with many threads off tangent. Her style comes across more like she is thinking out loud instead of just telling a story. Sometimes it seems as if she is singing. Her words boast of a personality stronger than cultural traditions and expectations. Allende displays a personality ready to face the world, yet unwilling to forgo a staccatto past.
Not the best of Allende.......2004-05-14
This book tells us the story of the author's life in a short version. I personally liked the way she portraits Chile, past and present. But I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has already read "Paula". In "Paula" she writes the story of her life while she is taking care of her daughter, who has a fatal disease, in "My invented country" she tells us the story of her life (again), because of the nostalgia she feels when her grandson asks her a question about being old, only in a shorter way and contributing with facets about her country. So when I read this book a lot of times I thought "I remember this" or "I knew this already". As another reviewer said, "she is loosing her touch". I hope she comes up with a brand new idea next time.
Book Description
The coup is the most frequently attempted method of changing government, and the most successful. Coup d' État outlines the mechanism of the coup and analyzes the conditions--political, military, and social, that gives rise to it. In doing so, the book sheds much light on societies where power does indeed grow out of the barrel of a gun and the role of law is a concept little understood.
Customer Reviews:
A Machivellian guide to taking over control of the state.......2007-04-18
Perhaps my impression is wrong but it seems to me that there have not been as many coup d'etats in the past decade as there were in the fifties and sixties. Nonetheless the subject remains one of perennial interest. Luttwalk here provides a kind of step-by- step guidebook for any would be coup-ist. He teaches that , "the coup d'etat uses precisely those parts of the state apparatus which are the prime target of revolutionary war: the armed forces, the police and the security agencies. The technique of the coup s the technique of judo : the planners of the coup infiltrate and subvert a small critical part of the security apparatus, which they then use with surgical precisionto displace the political leadership from its control of the rest of the state bureaucracy"
Luttwalk in this book describes and details the intelligence techniques required before the coup, the military techniques required during it and the propaganda techniques required to provide it with legitimacy afterwards..
He says it has no ideology behind it.
This is a compact richly informative work which makes use a variety of examples to establish its principal points.
Need for a modern version.......2007-01-21
An excellent, if somewhat dated book. And here in the South Pacific - complete with its coups and mutinies now - Luttwak seems downright wrong in a number of respects. Perhaps our region is different from 60s Africa. Still, an immensely readable and frighteningly enjoyable book
in demand?.......2006-02-26
I ran into this book at the age of 12. When I realized how much fun this book could be (a few years later) it had disappeared from the local library. Looking for years at many university libraries, later I found out that even when it was listed it turned out to be stolen!
Bought it on-line, read it and enjoyed it. Nice for an intercontinental flight and beyond.
Valuable political technology.......2004-09-16
Edward Luttwak's first and finest work, Coup d'Etat is the product of the close study of how dozens of governments around the world were successfully overthrown.
By examining the successful and failed strategies and tactics of those who staged the coups, Luttwak synthesizes a step-by-step guide to oust a regime and install a replacement. The political technology he develops, like military hardware, is value-neutral - like a firearm, anyone can employ it for ends good or evil.
As long as there are tyrannical regimes, there will always be a need for good people to be able to stage or sponsor successful coups d'etat. This volume is a practical handbook of immense value to the planning, execution, and long-term success of a regime change. Likewise, it provides a real-world aid to devise defensive means of protecting a government against a coup d'etat.
Advances in information technology since the book was written enter new variables into the formula, but Luttwak's basic concept remains fundamentally sound. As long as there will be coups d'etat, there will be a need for students and policymakers to study and master this book.
Only comprehensive book on such an important topic.......2003-02-24
With Coup d'Etats continuously occurring all over the world, this book is more relevant than ever in dealing with the subject. For example, using the framework developed in this book, it is easy to understand why the many recent coup attempts in Venezuela have failed (both by Chavez and the more recent one against him). Every time there is a coup I find myself referring back to the book in order to determine if there were any telltale signs to predict whether the coup will be successful or not.
His basic framework involves timing, media control and popular support, and government organizational structure. With these factors in mind, the author examines a large number of coups, both successful and failed. The inner stories of many of these coups is fascinating by itself, yet the author does a good job of telling the tale while drawing the main lessons from it.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting read especially if you're traveling in SE Asian.......2007-03-27
I grew up in SE Asia and I was enthralled when I first saw the movie. Two decades later I finally got to reading the book.
First thing is that Kock is a beautiful writer. Some of his sentences just blew me away. Especially when he describes Indonesia. He completely captures all the senses and you're right there on a hot Jakarta night with the aroma of clove cigarettes. He's a journalist so his knowledge of the underlying political event surrounding the novel are impressive as well. If you want to understand the unsteady and inscrutable world of SE Asian politics then this book will be a great introduction.
I think the book is weak in a few areas that prevent it from becoming a class. The critical failure is that the reader does not identify with any characters in the novel. The protagonist is Guy Hamilton and we're allowed to see his thoughts but I don't think we deeply relate to him. He's too shallow of a character. His main issues are that he's afraid of relationship commitment and he hasn't been able to succeed at work. Nothing too interesting here. Jill is also somewhat distant and I didn't feel the passion between them. The movie did a far better job of this. Billy, the dwarf, is the deepest character but he's too creepy to relate to.
The second issue is point of view. It's written from the point of view of another journalist, Cookie, who sees Guy and the other characters and writes the story. However we're able to get into Guy's brain and this switching between Cookie's view and Guy's internal thoughts is confusing.
The conflict never built up sufficiently either. We knew from what Cookie said that Billy would die and he would meet Guy in London later.
It's a good read especially if you want to be immersed in all that is SE Asia - mysticism, smells, poverty, riches, cruelty, passion. From that point I enjoyed reading it.
Engrossing.......2006-11-04
I loved the movie with Mel Gibson and the book is just as good if not better. You're able to sense the danger and the mystery of the main character's situation and Billy becomes a figure you never forget.
Multi-Layered Novel.......2006-01-25
Intriguing thriller set in one of Indonesia's most turbulent times follows the basic plot of most of that country's shadow puppet fables. Viz: The earthly balance of good and evil has lapsed, and the clueless but good-hearted hero finds himself aided by the unexpected attentions of a bold dwarf.
There is so much going on, it's to be enjoyed on several levels. Innocence lost, cloak and daggery, true political intrigue, guy meets girl, expatriate sleaze, lessons in Indonesian culture: it's all there. Very nicely written with a perfect pace and memorable characters; Koch seems to be a great observer and decent researcher.
So nicely composed was this book, the subsequent film (featuring breathtakingly fresh performances by youngsters Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson) captured the best dialogue and the steamy atmosphere with apparent ease. Destined to be a classic, YLD is a story that takes hold and stays with you a long time.
De rigeur reading for the expats of Indonesia, but also a great book to have along if traveling in Indonesia (the twenty year ban on this book has been lifted by the government, so you can bring it in legally now)!
Not bad.......2005-06-13
Not a bad read at all actually. The hero is a half-Chinese dwarf named Billy. The other characters treat him quite shabbily at times, but things never descend to the level of dwarf tossing. There is lots of atmospheric stuff about how hot and humid it is in Indonesia -- duh! -- which I could have done without. Otherwise, a pretty good read.
Third World Primer.......2004-05-09
Keeping the politics of this book aside; I can really recommend it for anyone who wants to feel what it's like to live through a coup and martial law. No other book I've read can really make that smell of fear and random violence as alive as Mr. Koch.
The movie is best avoided. The nearest parallel movie to rival the atmosphere of this book would be "Power Play" with Peter O'Toole.
Funny thing, I'm yet to meet an Indonesian who's ever even heard of "The Year of Living Dangerously".
Book Description
In the early morning hours of October 1, 1965, a group calling itself the September 30th Movement kidnapped and executed six generals of the Indonesian army, including its highest commander. The group claimed that it was attempting to preempt a coup, but it was quickly defeated as the senior surviving general, Haji Mohammad Suharto, drove the movement’s partisans out of Jakarta. Riding the crest of mass violence, Suharto blamed the Communist Party of Indonesia for masterminding the movement and used the emergency as a pretext for gradually eroding President Sukarno’s powers and installing himself as a ruler. Imprisoning and killing hundreds of thousands of alleged communists over the next year, Suharto remade the events of October 1, 1965 into the central event of modern Indonesian history and the cornerstone of his thirty-two-year dictatorship.
Despite its importance as a trigger for one of the twentieth century’s worst cases of mass violence, the September 30th Movement has remained shrouded in uncertainty. Who actually masterminded it? What did they hope to achieve? Why did they fail so miserably? And what was the movement’s connection to international Cold War politics? In Pretext for Mass Murder, John Roosa draws on a wealth of new primary source material to suggest a solution to the mystery behind the movement and the enabling myth of Suharto’s repressive regime. His book is a remarkable feat of historical investigation.
Book Description
The earthshaking news of October 1998 that General Pinochet had been arrested in Britain presaged two years of international interest in the case and its ramifications for traveling tyrants the world over. Now the General has returned home, but the media has continued to ignore the important story of how his detention lifted a stranglehold that had suffocated Chile's moral sensibility for a generation. Award-winning journalist Marc Cooper was a translator to President Allende until the coup of 1973. In this memoir he reconstructs the tense atmosphere of the final days of the Allende government, including his hiding and subsequent evacuation under armed UN protection. Twenty-five years later he returns and describes, in vivid street-level reporting, a country that is a democracy in name only and a society that has been transfigured by one of the most radical, armed capitalist revolutions of our time. Yet, he argues, spasms of protest that seemed like the last rattle of the snake may still presage the crumbling of Chile's status quo as Allende's heirs in the Socialist Party, albeit "renewed," sweep into the Presidency.
Customer Reviews:
READ ABOUT THE REAL 9/11 in 1973: HOW NIXON KILLED A DEMOCRACY.......2006-07-08
this book is essential reading for us as we reflect upon our own global piracy which now continues under a new illegitimate administration. Marc Cooper is an excellent author and reporter of truth, courageous in speaking truth to power. THis book should be required reading in any social studies and history class. This is our history of terror and domination. The bombing of the Presidential mansion in Chile 9/11/73 and our destruction of a society and the torture and assassination of thousands of innocent people and exile of thousands more through the brutal fascist military dictator Pinochet, and our continuance of such policy, must chill the blood and mind of any American concerned for truth justice and social progress of all people, which is the true American and Christian way.
UPDATE 2007:
Pinochet is dead and now people go around claiming, well, he only killed a couple of thousand people after all. It was only a couple of thousand on OUR 9/11, too, right?
Please get the truth. Get this book by Marc Cooper. We need to study this very readable and informative and TRUE account now, more than ever.
Cooper Vs Ignorance.......2004-11-13
Many of the reviewers below me point out that Pinochet strengthened the economy in Chile to the level where it became one of the more prosperous states on the subcontinent. He sure did. What's more, Mussolini made the trains run on time, Stalin ran a tight security service and Hitler sure did make some good roads.
Please.
Allende was elected by a narrow margin, so he deserved to be overthrown? Fair enough - let's kill old Bushy boy too, since he was elected by a very narrow margin. What Cooper takes aim at primarily in this book is this notion that Pinochet's brand of "fascism" was good fascism - that it's OK to, say, train alsatians to rape prisoners if they were a bit leftist and their candidate had screwed up the economy.
No economy is so important that mass murder is an acceptable way to rectify it. The fact that so many people on the right refuse to accept this simple moral fact makes me worry for the free West, and how much longer it's going to be free for if we can't acknowledge a simple thing like mass murder being morally wrong.
Bravo, Cooper, you've upset the pinheads.
Leftist trash talk about Pinochet and Chile........2004-01-04
This book purports to give a true view of Chile and the Pinochet regime. The author is a sixties radical who at one time worked as a translator on Allende's presidential staff. Warren Beatty endorsed this book as saying it cleared the distortions about Chile.
Where to begin?
I have never given a one star review of any book. Cooper's book deserves no star, because it is a distortion of any truth. I don't think the book is at all balanced with what I know about Chile. I know Chile as well as Cooper. My wife is Chilean and happens to be a socialist. I also have visited Chile many times and love the people and the country.
First, Allende won a very narrow mandate in the election of 1970.
He sought to radically change his country but introduced chaos into his country. He alienated many people including most of the middle and upper classes along with the conservative population of the countryside. My wife is from Curico, in the central agricultural region.
Allende also antongonized some powerful patrons such as the United States and ITT (which owned the copper mines in the north of the country). The United States contributed much of the foreign aid Chile received. What did Allende do? Nationalize the copper mines and invite Castro for a month long visit. Smart move--make enemies of those who contributed most to the Chilean economy. When the economy tanked, chaos was the result.
Workers demands became even more aggressive. Nationalization of smaller companies and agricultural estates were the result. Strikes and work stoppages were common. Economic decline was the result. Copper states that this was the finest hour for Chile. WOW--what a distortion. Economic decline and political chaos and he believes that it was Chile's finest hour. If one wants a modern day example of Chile in the seventies, look at Chavez's Venezuela.
Cooper is right in saying the Nixon administration helped in throwing Allende out of office. However Allende was going down a road which would have resulted in his overthrow.
The military sickened by the economic decline and political chaos overthrew the Allende regime. Pinochet was a reluctant leader of the coup. However, once the die was set, he embraced the coup and brutal crackdown. Over 3100 people died in the coup and the seventeen year dictatorship. Chile was not the worst dictatorship as Cooper would have you believe. In fact, Castro's dictatorship has been far more harsh in this hemisphere. Cooper does not want you to know that. That would distort his story.
Most Chileans believe Allende was an inept leader. Both Allende and Pinochet are divisive issues in Chile today. People don't like to argue the issues involving these two people. That is why Pinochet is not on trial in Chile. Perhaps in the future this may happen, but probably after Pinochet's death. But Cooper wants to rip open the scars of the past to try the crimes of the dictatorship.
One thing the dictatorship did do was set Chile as an economic powerhouse of South America. Where most of the other countries are failing presently, Chile has a thriving economy. Cooper does not want to credit the dictatorship with this. This would destroy his distortion. So he lies and lies and lies.
If I had to summarize the essentials of Cooper's book, it is leftist trash talk about Pinochet and Chile. I wish this book was more objective. It is not. Reader beware.
First hand account.......2002-10-21
Cooper provides chilling details concerning the Allende overthrow that otherwise would lost to history. This is an excellent first-hand account of one persons experience during that tumultuous time. Although Cooper provides a biased account of the political environment in Chile during this time, it nontheless is a true account, whether we Americans like to look at our complicity in these events or not. Bravo to Cooper, the truth shall set you free!
Cooper and Me: A Chilean Anti-Review.......2002-08-20
One can't help but wonder if Cooper would've preferred that Chile had ended up like, say, an Argentina or a Venezuela rather than the stable and prosperous (relatively speaking) country that it is today. There's a sense of profound resentment ... that permeates the entire book, revealed by the ... attempts to discredit the (yes, material) advances Chile has made in the past decade. It seems that Pinochet's main crime is not the horrific human rights abuses that occured under his regime, but rather the meteoric rise of Chile's economy and standard of living. For these successes, and the embarrassment they engender on the rest of the continent and in dinosaurs on the Left, Pinochet and the "Chicago Boys" can never be forgiven.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
A half-hearted attempt at a Wildstrom universe mini-mega crossover event, or something like that. I think this was done mostly as a public relations o r marketing exercise, as if you were having a story with The Authority that was really to do with such a subject, a lot more could have been made of it on its own than just this.
A Wildstorm Get Together.......2005-08-11
Take Sleeper, The Authority, Stromwatch Team Achilles, and WILDCats, blend them togther and you get this interesting little tale.
Florida is almost completely laid to waste when an accident in the Bleed destroys a massive ship of very powerful and big aliens. The Authority determines that the US Government was responsible for the accident. Because of the government's cavalier actions the Authority moves in and takes over the United States.
While the thrust of the story is simple, the plots and sub plots make it a rich and complex story. Comics fans will notice the Kirby tribute as the Authority must deal with the vengeful aliens while trying to take over a country. But through it all the characters are all true to their respective books as the whole Wildstorm universe is affected.
I had not read Sleeper so I did not get all of the references when I first read this book but I don't think it hurt my first reading. One should obviously be familiar with The Authority as it really is their story even if a lot of titles are involved. As this book takes place in the middle of Authority: Fractured Worlds, it is a necessary part of any Authority library.
One Of The Most Relevant Graphic Novels To Date.......2004-12-30
So, I read a brief description of this graphic novel from Wildstorm.com. Hum, I wondered, would the story live up to its name? Oh, it does. This story is a collection of a crossover of So, I read a brief description of this graphic novel from Wildstorm.com. Hum, I wondered, would the story live up to its name? Oh, it does. This story is a collection of a crossover of a few different Wildstorm comics with emphasis on The Authority, the Wildstorm's version of the JLA or X-men, except they're more aggressive and less apologetic than the super friends. So the theme of the story is what happens when humanity taps into forces beyond their own control? The Authority steps in and decides to take control of the United States of America. Oh yeah, hence the title Coup D'Etat. It's probably one of the most amazing stories I've read in a long time and it deserves some credit for the groundbreaking themes represented in this graphic novels. If you tip toe around the possibility of getting this book, get it because it's not just a story about superheroes, it really makes you think and that said, I highly recommend this book.
Average customer rating:
- An anatomy of the coup d'etat
|
The Coup: Tactics in the Seizure of Power
Bruce W. Farcau
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0275947831 |
Book Description
The coup d'etat has defied all attempts at rational analysis. This is hardly surprising, in that it is born in darkness and very frequently dies there, only coming to light in the last moments before either a bloody defeat or a stunning success. The participants on the military side are frequently reluctant to discuss their activities, even long after the fact, and their civilian victims can usually only guess at what happened to them. Previous studies have often been heavily tainted by the politics of the writer, categorizing the coup as a product of class struggle, the cold war, or outright foreign intervention by the superpowers. The author of this book has spent over a decade living and working closely with military and political figures throughout Latin America and has used the fruits of literally hundreds of "encounters" (ranging from simple interviews to longtime friendships) to piece together an insightful picture of this nebulous but very real phenomenon. He has identified the motives of coup plotters and the means by which they go about building the coalition necessary to overthrow a government. Rather than use hypothetical cases to illustrate his points, he has drawn on history to demonstrate how coups succeed and why they fail. This book is both an educational and an exciting peek into the dark world of military subversion by an observer who has seen it first hand.
Customer Reviews:
An anatomy of the coup d'etat.......1999-08-12
You occasionally read in the papers about a coup in Africa or Latin America. The movies make it sound very easy to arrange. This book makes clear just how complex an undertaking a coup is, why they happen, and why they don't happen here. It's brilliantly readable and entertaining as well as informative.
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