"Our Hemisphere"?: The United States in Latin America, from 1776 to the Twenty-First Century

by Britta H. Crandall, Russell C. Crandall

Overview

An accessible course book on U.S.-Latin American relations

“Our Hemisphere”? uncovers the range, depth, and veracity of the United States’ relationship with the Americas. Using short historical vignettes, Britta and Russell Crandall chart the course of inter‑American relations from 1776 to the present, highlighting the roles that individuals and groups of soldiers, intellectuals, private citizens, and politicians have had in shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America in the postcolonial, Cold War, and post–Cold War eras. The United States is usually and correctly seen as pursuing a monolithic, hegemonic agenda in Latin America, wielding political, economic, and military muscle to force Latin American countries to do its bidding, but the Crandalls reveal unexpected yet salient regional interactions where Latin Americans have exercised their own power with their northern and very powerful neighbor. Moreover, they show that Washington’s relationship with the region has relied, in addition to the usual heavy‑handedness, on cooperation and mutual respect since the beginning of the relationship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300262339
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	11/30/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	504
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Britta and Russell Crandall are professors of international politics and American foreign policy at Davidson College and have been teaching US–Latin American relations to undergraduates and graduate students over the past two decades.

Table of Contents

Time Line of Our Stories xi

Introduction 1

Part I Continental Consolidation and Conquest, 1776-1898 7

1 The Black Spartacus Who Balanced Washington 9

2 When Americans Loved Simón Bolívar 17

3 La Doctrina Monroe 26

4 Destiny Manifested 32

5 A Lone Star Is Born 39

6 A Wicked War 46

7 California Conquest 56

8 ¡Viva Grant! 63

Part II Empire to Amigos, 1898-1940s 75

9 Yellow Fever 79

10 TR's Soft Talk and Big Stick 90

11 Mr. Roosevelt's Canal 97

12 Imperial Idealism 107

13 Hunting Sandino 117

14 Sumner Welles Goes to Havana 129

15 Nuestro Petróleo 136

16 The Shadow War 142

Part III Hot Cold War, 1950-1991 149

17 Mr. Kennan Goes to Latin America 153

18 Getting Jacobo 159

19 Containing Cuba: A Perfect Failure 168

20 Washington and the Dominican Republic: Part One: Our S.O.B. 184

21 Washington and the Dominican Republic: Part Two: Intervention 194

22 A Very Brazilian Coup 205

23 Killing Che 216

24 What Really Happened in Chile? 225

25 Guatemala's "Scorched Communists" 235

26 Nicaragua under the Sandinistas 244

27 Why Invade Grenada? 259

28 The Salvador Option 271

29 Getting Rid of Pinochet 288

Part IV Post-Cold War, 1989-: Power and Agency in a Post-Hegemonic Hemisphere 297

30 Invading Panama 301

31 The Washington Consensus Goes South 314

32 Haitian Tragedy: Act One: George H. W. Bush 327

33 Haitian Tragedy: Act Two: Bill Clinton 333

34 Haitian Tragedy: Act Three: George W. Bush 340

35 Supply Side: Part One: Peru 346

36 Supply Side: Part Two: Bolivia 355

37 Supply Side: Part Three: Plan Colombia 365

38 The (Almost) Coup in Caracas 374

39 El Narco Mexicano: Land of the Traffickers 385

40 Washington-Havana Whiplash 398

41 Poor Mexico: So Far from God, So Close to Trump 406

42 Exodus from the Northern Triangle 414

Conclusion 425

Acknowledgments 429

Bibliography 431

Index 463

Editorial Reviews

The Crandalls have written a welcome and valuable book that deserves to find its way into many classrooms.”—Quintijn B. Kat, Latin Americanist

“Ideal for undergraduate courses, “Our Hemisphere”? is a balanced and nuanced portrayal of the history of U.S.–Latin American relations. The attention given to more recent episodes on immigration, the drug war and U.S. policy toward Cuba and Venezuela is especially welcome.”—Allen Wells, author of Tropical Zion: General Trujillo, FDR and the Jews of Sosúa

“Britta and Russell Crandall’s deeply researched and engaging book illuminates the complexities in US–Latin American relations that are too often overlooked. ‘Our Hemisphere’? is a magisterial and insightful account that should provoke rethinking of inter-American relations.”—Michael Shifter, president, Inter-American Dialogue

From the Publisher