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ian_in_dallas's review
3.0
Overall it is a worthwhile read if only to point out how quickly all of this U.S. imperialism took place, more or less in the span of one mans career.
I really did not like the way that the author centered there experience of fallowing the foot steps of the Butler, it felt like it was at times white washing the experiences of the people in those place and their stores and troubles. It was at the Verry least off-putting. I suppose that is the trap of the biographer I don't know.
I really did not like the way that the author centered there experience of fallowing the foot steps of the Butler, it felt like it was at times white washing the experiences of the people in those place and their stores and troubles. It was at the Verry least off-putting. I suppose that is the trap of the biographer I don't know.
aerlenbach's review
5.0
“The one who deals the blow forgets.
The one who carries the scar remembers.”
—Haitian proverb
This is my new favorite book. It will undoubtedly reach my top 5 of the year and is my #1 recommendation about the history of US Imperialism.
This book ties together 3 stories:
• A biography of Major General Smedley Butler and his adventures in US Imperialism from the Spanish-American War to campaigning against war before WW2.
• The author traveling the world to see the real places associated with Smedley’s adventures
• An expanded history of US Imperialism beyond what Smedley Butler was involved in.
His story IS the story of US Imperialism. He fought the Spanish after the original false flag explosion of the USS Maine, resulting in the US colonizing Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the creation of the infamous military installation in Guantanamo Bay. He was in China during the Boxer Rebellion, the first time the United States invaded China, along with other Imperial nations. Then he defended corporate oil interests the SECOND time the US sent soldiers into China. He personally overthrew the democracy of Haiti and implemented slave labor. This is why Haitians see him as a devil, but Americans don’t have any idea about any of this.
He did a lot of terrible things at the behest of the US government. He also helped stop a fascist coup to overthrow FDR. One that has eerie similarities to the January 6th putsch.
But it wasn’t until he left the military that he was fully able to articulate what he truly was: A racketeer for capitalism.
There’s a reason why the US empire grew in power right alongside US companies becoming international mega-corporations. These two things went hand in hand. Smedley Butler saw it. Hell, he DID it!
“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank [now PNC] boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers [now BBH] in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil [now Chevron, ExxonMobil, Amoco, and Marathon] went its way unmolested”
He committed atrocities against oppressed people for the interests of corporations that still exist to this day. He blazed the trail for what the US Government and corporations continue to do to this day: oppress peoples across the world to extract wealth from weaker nations. We are rich because they are poor. Imperialism is truly the highest form of Capitalism. Two heads of the same hydra.
But there’s another head of that hydra. The specter of fascism hovers over this nation. Capitalists stood with the fascists then, they plotted to overthrew the government in 1933 to stop the modest Social Democrat reforms from FDR, the self-proclaimed “savior of capitalism”. They stood with Mussolini and Hitler before the US joined and actively got rich off of those fascist countries. And they’ll do it again if given the chance. Because they would rather give up Democracy itself than an iota of profits. Fascism is Capitalism in decay.
Read this book. It’s incredible and important.
The one who carries the scar remembers.”
—Haitian proverb
This is my new favorite book. It will undoubtedly reach my top 5 of the year and is my #1 recommendation about the history of US Imperialism.
This book ties together 3 stories:
• A biography of Major General Smedley Butler and his adventures in US Imperialism from the Spanish-American War to campaigning against war before WW2.
• The author traveling the world to see the real places associated with Smedley’s adventures
• An expanded history of US Imperialism beyond what Smedley Butler was involved in.
His story IS the story of US Imperialism. He fought the Spanish after the original false flag explosion of the USS Maine, resulting in the US colonizing Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the creation of the infamous military installation in Guantanamo Bay. He was in China during the Boxer Rebellion, the first time the United States invaded China, along with other Imperial nations. Then he defended corporate oil interests the SECOND time the US sent soldiers into China. He personally overthrew the democracy of Haiti and implemented slave labor. This is why Haitians see him as a devil, but Americans don’t have any idea about any of this.
He did a lot of terrible things at the behest of the US government. He also helped stop a fascist coup to overthrow FDR. One that has eerie similarities to the January 6th putsch.
But it wasn’t until he left the military that he was fully able to articulate what he truly was: A racketeer for capitalism.
There’s a reason why the US empire grew in power right alongside US companies becoming international mega-corporations. These two things went hand in hand. Smedley Butler saw it. Hell, he DID it!
“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank [now PNC] boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers [now BBH] in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil [now Chevron, ExxonMobil, Amoco, and Marathon] went its way unmolested”
He committed atrocities against oppressed people for the interests of corporations that still exist to this day. He blazed the trail for what the US Government and corporations continue to do to this day: oppress peoples across the world to extract wealth from weaker nations. We are rich because they are poor. Imperialism is truly the highest form of Capitalism. Two heads of the same hydra.
But there’s another head of that hydra. The specter of fascism hovers over this nation. Capitalists stood with the fascists then, they plotted to overthrew the government in 1933 to stop the modest Social Democrat reforms from FDR, the self-proclaimed “savior of capitalism”. They stood with Mussolini and Hitler before the US joined and actively got rich off of those fascist countries. And they’ll do it again if given the chance. Because they would rather give up Democracy itself than an iota of profits. Fascism is Capitalism in decay.
Read this book. It’s incredible and important.
fetterov's review
5.0
A fascinating look at the beginnings of America's overseas imperialism through the eyes of Smedley Butler, a Marine who participated in military interventions all over the world. Katz weaves together Butler's story, the present day, and the time in between seamlessly. Although it isn't shocking as a reader in 2022 to learn about how capitalism and racism drove endless American-led violent conflicts in foreign countries, it was enlightening to have these events contextualized to the present day. There is much to learn from the life of Smedley Butler as a self-described "racketeer for capitalism." I would recommend this for readers with any interest in history and/or its reflections in present day events.
mattbutreads's review
dark
informative
fast-paced
4.75
Wonderfully written look in to a forgotten era of the States told by the people who can never forget it.
shawbin's review
2.0
I wish there was a better introduction to give the rest of the book solid context. I found this book rather dry.