Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American Cold War (New Cold War History) Kindle Edition

This book is a groundbreaking look into Chile's diplomatic efforts under Salvador Allende's administration, leading up to the coup in Chile's September 11 (1973). While Allende may not have been every politician's cup of tea, the book does an excellent job showing the uncertain spaces for negotiation between Latin American nations and the U.S., Nixon's fears of Allende, and Allende's job to shore up solidarity. The author used many sources such as diplomatic cables and, noteworthy enough, messages and memos between Allende and Cuba. The latter is especially important because it shows how Cuba respected Allende's decisions and stayed out (relatively) of its "Third Way" of nonviolent Socialist revolution.

This book is very very good. Harmer does a great job of showing how Allende's domestic politics were informed by the international landscape of relations between Cuban, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

This is an excellent book regarding the foreign relations of the Allende administration. It claims that while Nixon & Kissinger wanted Allende out, they were not responsible for the coup in 1973. That operation was done by the Chilean Armed Forces and if aybody else was involved it was Brazil. The U.S. Government did try to stop Allende from getting into power and they did support the opposition to Allende. On the other hand, the Soviet Union did not give support the Chilean government as they were busy enough supporting Cuba and because they were trying to improve relationships with th U.S. through Détente.Allende did receive weapons from Cuba and many MIR and Socialist party members went on to get military training in the island. They also received AK-47's, RPG's, etc. While not a small arsenal it was certainly not enough to fight the Chilean army. In the end, Allende orders the people at the Cuban Embassy not to fight with him at La Moneda Palace as he did not want to see Cuban and Chilean soldiers fighting each other in his last day.The reason why I give this book only 3 stars is because towards the end it starts praising Allende as a constitutional and democratic leader. While he was elected in free eletions, to cast Allende as such is at least biased and adds nothing to the analysis covered in the book. Allende was denounced by his own congress, by the supreme court and by the comptroller. He allowed his followers to take over factories and lands. He allowed weapons to be smuggled. He nationalized companies without paying a dime to the rightful owners. Not to mention the economic collapse the country was going through. Does that sound like democratic and constitutional?P.S: If you read Spanish I recommend a book that can serve as a complement to this one. It talks about the relationship between Allende and Francisco Franco of Spain. Interestingly enough, it was Franco who gave financial support to the Chilean Government.It is called "Viva la verdadera amistad. Franco y Allende. 1970 - 1973".

Wow, this is a horribly written book. 684 pages of text and it could have been done in 200. What is the purpose of this book? All the materials referenced are from primary sources, so you can't say it says anything original. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to collect these primary sources, translate them into English, and engage the reader. In this it fails, with the leaden, dead prose. Is this author a professor? Probably. You might say the target audience for such a book is the reader who does not want to read Spanish primary sources on the Salvador Allende government. If so, and that would include me, the book fails to capture my interest. The one interesting part of Allende--his last stand at the Chilean White House--is given short shrift by the author (the account starts only at page 593 of 684, and only gets interesting starting on p. 644). You can find a more thorough and interesting account in the short few pages in Wikipedia. A single sentence is given to Allende's death, this one: "Just before two o'clock, the military stormed the building and found Allende dead." No mention of whether suicide or murder (see Wikipedia for more on this fascinating topic). To be blunt, this is a book that should have been published as a PhD dissertation, and perhaps condensed in 40 pages (more than enough) and published in a foreign affairs journal.

A detailed and well-researched account of all the actors in Allende's Chile. It offers a view of Chile from all perspectives, thats is to say, from the standpoint of the USA, Chile, Cuba, South-America, and the World during the Cold war. The main argument is that Allende's Chile was an active actor in the Global South-Anti-inperialist scenario,as such, Allende's Chile needs to be understood from the geopolitical, political and ideological point of view. Ultimately, Harmer depicts a Chile that had the last word in all its actions and decisions, a world that remained skeptic about La Via Chilena, a fractured left, a hostile right, and a hesitant United States.