Book description
'This is not history for history's sake, however - this is the
history of our present and future, long beyond cold war, into war on
terror, war on drugs' Ed Vulliamy, Guardian
The Untold History of the United States is filmmaker
Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick's riveting landmark account
of the rise and decline of the American empire - the most powerful and
dominant nation the world has ever seen. Probing the dark corners of
the administrations of 17 presidents, from Woodrow Wilson to Barack
Obama, they dare to ask just how far the US has drifted from its
founding democratic ideals.
Beginning with the bloody suppression of the Filipino struggle for
independence and spanning the two World Wars, it documents how US
administrations have repeatedly intervened in conflicts on foreign
soil, taking part in covert operations and wars in Latin American,
Asia and the Middle East. At various times it has overthrown elected
leaders in favour of right-wing dictators, for both economic and
political gain.
Examining America's atomic history, Stone and Kuznick argue that the
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were militarily unnecessary and
morally indefensible. They show how the United States has repeatedly
brandished nuclear threats and come terrifyingly close to war. They
expose how US presidents have trampled on the US constitution and
international law and lay bare the recent transformation of the United
States into a national security state.
Using the latest research and recently declassified records, The
Untold History builds a meticulously documented and shocking
picture of the American empire, showing how it has determined the
course of world events for the interests of the few across the
twentieth century and beyond.
Kuznick and Stone's Untold History is the most important historical
narrative of this century -- Martin J. Sherwin, Pulitzer Prize-Winning
Author Of American Prometheus It's compulsive reading: brilliant, a
masterpiece -- Daniel Ellsberg, Author Of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam
and the Pentagon Papers Finally, a book with the guts to challenge the
accepted narrative if recent American history -- Bill Maher There is
much here to reflect upon ... indispensable -- Mikhail Gorbachev It's
compulsive reading: brilliant, a masterpiece -- Daniel Ellsberg, Author
Of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
Oliver
Stone has won numerous Academy Awards for his work on such iconic
films as Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July,
Natural Born Killers, Salavador and W.
Peter Kuznick is a Professor of History and the director of the
award-winning Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and is
currently serving his third term as distinguished lecturer with the
Organisation of American Historians. He has written extensively about
science and politics, nuclear history and Cold War culture.
