The Untold History of the United States [B0552]

2012 HCDJ 1st edition in nice clean condition. The companion to the Showtime documentary series, director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick challenge the prevailing orthodoxies of traditional history books in this thoroughly researched and rigorously analyzed look at the dark side of American history. The notion of American exceptionalism, dating back to John Winthrop's 1630 sermon aboard the Arbella, still warps Americans' understanding of their nation's role in the world. Most are loathe to admit that the United States has any imperial pretensions. But history tells a different story as filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick reveal in this riveting account of the rise and decline of the American empire. Aided by the latest archival findings and recently declassified documents and building on the research of the world's best scholars, Stone and Kuznick construct an often shocking but meticulously documented "People's History of the American Empire" that offers startling context to the Bush-Cheney policies that put us at war in two Muslim countries and show us why the Obama administration has had such a difficult time cleaving a new path.

From the back of the book: "Finally, a book with the guts to challenge the accepted narrative of recent American history . . . This is the 'Washington didn't really chop down the cherry tree' book for our last hundred years."-Bill Maher

From Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I couldn't forget when the author said: 'The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other religions were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.' That sums up everything and truly makes sense."; "One of the best books I have read in a long time. Fundamental to understand modern geopolitics ."; "This is one of the most informative books I've ever read about the USA."