Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy Toward Latin America

I'm writing my dissertation on U.S. foreign policy 1898-1941 and Schoultz's book is the best survey of U.S.-Latin American relations that I have found. Truly excellent scholarship without an ideological agenda.

In this readable and comprehensive book Schoultz describes the relations between the United States and Latin America. He shows the domestic politics, attitudes and individuals that made Americas relations with Latin America. We see the ignorance and attitude of superiority that was first stated by John Adams, and never totally went away. He demonstrates how England's influence in Latin America effected American relations. Schoultz also shows the ignorance, actions and attitudes of a series of diplomats, and how they made policy.Schoultz describes how slavery effected the domestic politics that helped create the American relations toward Latin America until the Civil War. After the Civil War American began a policy of paternalism and then imperialism. America had two goals in her relations with Latin America, to help Latin America, and to replace European influence in Latin America. Good intentions and ignorance lead to a series of interventions in countries like Cuba and Nicaragua. Later America developed the policies of Dollar Diplomacy, and then the Good Neighbor policy. Finally we see the attempts to eliminate the influence of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in Latin America. .Schoultz concludes that American policy in Latin America was dictated by security, economic interests and domestic politics. Policy was made and executed by people who often tried to help Latin America and failed through ignorance of the local conditions, and then blamed their failures on the Latin Americans, maintaining the superior attitude toward Latin Americans. There is a series of good maps to clarify the test are included. Schoultz uses a wide variety of primary sources to tell this rarely told story

It's worthwile the time I spent on it. At the beginning the chapters go smoothly then the author's inspiration becomes a blow by blow account. From the Revolution to the Civil war period, the US-Latin American relations are described with more clarity and vigour, a 5 stars. After the civil war, something is lost, 3 stars. However, it's a very interesting book and useful to understand how US is so involved in countries that at first sight seem to have a marginal strategic interest.

The author presents the USA-latin america relations over 200 years. The aim of the author is not only to present the facts, but more importantly, the perception of Latin america by US policy makers which motivated the actions, and how this perception has lasted over this period. This is a huge research work, based nearly exclusively on original documents. The work however, is exposed in a very synthetic and elegant way. I would rate it as a classic History work.