Review of "Foreign Policy," by Alvin Wolf

 Review of

Foreign Policy, by Alvin Wolf, ISBN 0133264211

Four out of five stars

Dated, but very instructive

 Written in 1970 while the Cold and Vietnam wars were in fully active mode, this book reflects much of the thinking at the time. Issues are put forward with both pro and con positions being presented. Of course, one of the issues “debated” is whether the United States should be militarily involved in Vietnam. The con side is a little weak, one of those articles is by teenagers and is a bit incoherent.

 The next topic is American military involvement in Central America and the Caribbean, specifically the attempt by the American Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. One of the two areas that I found most interesting were the articles about the American Peace Corps. The idealism of most of the American participants cannot be questioned, yet there were those that dismissed the Corps as little more than useless.

 The second area was about what can only be described as American economic imperialism. The discussions about American investment in other countries with the consequent political, social and economic power that comes with the business ties is explained and questioned. It is ironic that now there are many discussions and concerns in the United States about foreign ownership of American companies.

 While dated, this book is a fascinating look back at the thinking of fifty years ago concerning how America treated other countries.

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