by Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer, John H. Coatsworth
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Product Description
Bitter Fruit is a comprehensive and insightful account of the CIA operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954. First published in 1982, this book has become a classic, a textbook case of the relationship between the United States and the Third World. The authors make extensive use of U.S. government documents and interviews with former CIA and other officials. It is a warning of what happens when the United States abuses its power.
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Average Customer Review:
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Recommended Read, 2008-08-24
To be honest, I would never have made it through this book if it had not been required for my class but I am glad that I did. The history of the coup and how it has played out and affected Guatemala to this day is a horrific example of American history, but one that should be common knowledge to the American public in order to keep a closer eye on our international affairs.
The authors did a great job of narrating the history in way that reads more like a story than a history book, though at times it can be a bit hard to read through (though that could be my own weakness in reading) with many different people involved. However, the intro giving a brief overview of the history of the coup helps give the reader an overview and the afterword is much appreciated.
The five stars I'm giving this book is in part due to the authors' ability to make the book an interesting read on history, but mostly because this is a book and a history that people should know.
2 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting but misleading propaganda, 2008-06-06
This is a very interesting book, but its premise is false and misleading.
The book is advertised as revealing a wicked conspiracy among the CIA and the United Fruit Company, against the people of Guatemala, who were
purportedly robbed of their country and murdered by those terrible American Capitalists. Not quite. There's another side to it.
In order to uncover this, however, the reader must skip past the
introduction, the forward, the preface, and the first few chapters,
and begin with the FIFTH chapter. Chapter 5. Use the index, folks:
United Fruit Company, background of, pages 65-69.
In Chapter 5 we read about how this supposedly nefarious American
corporation, United Fruit Company, came about.
In 1870, Captain Loranzo Dow Baker discovers bananas in Jamaica,
takes them to America where they are unknown, and begins a very
successful business. In 1885 the Boston Fruit Company is formed.
The company grows, and soon the fields of Jamaica, Cuba and
Santo Domingo are insufficient, so Central American countries are
considered. Enter Mr. Minor Keith, Brooklyn-born entrepreneur who
has built a railroad in Costa Rica, the first one, in 1870.
Boston Fruit merges with Keith and, on March 30, 1899, United Fruit
is born. The new firm has 112 miles of railroad in Central America,
and 212,394 acres of land, 61,263 of which is producing bananas.
Pay attention to this: "At that time, LAND in the undeveloped tropical
lowlands could be had for almost nothing, since the local rulers
HAD NO OTHER USE FOR IT [emphasis mine], AND WERE HAPPY
TO BE PAID ANYTHING FOR IT [emphasis mine]." (page 67)
The land was not "stolen," it was purchased, and sold voluntarily.
Later, some greedy communists decided to STEAL this land
away from the Americans, and THAT'S why it got rough. And bloody.
GREEDY COMMUNISTS, NOT GREEDY AMERICAN CAPITALISTS.
THIEVING, greedy communists, who STOLE land that had been
purchased LEGITIMATELY. Not merely legally, but LEGITIMATELY.
Why don't we have a look at another source:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemalacoup.htm
Here's an excerpt: "These reforms were continued by his successor,
Colonel Jacobo Arbenz, ...also legalized the communist Guatemalan Labor Party."
[NOTE:] "The Labor Party BEGAN TO CONTROL labor unions,
peasant organizations, and the governing political party." [emphasis mine]
"American firms in Guatemala such as the United Fruit Company
became increasingly discontent with the Guatemalan government,
especially after the Arbenz government passed a law expropriating large estates, a law which greatly affected the United Fruit Company's plantations."
"The United States itself also began to fear the increasingly communist nature of the Arbenz government and coupled with pressure from the
United Fruit Company and other firms, the CIA supported a coup that invaded Guatemala from Honduras and quickly took control of the government, installing military dictator Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas."
"The coup and the resulting regime began an almost 50-year period of
military dictators, fraudulent elections, and civil wars that claimed 200,000 lives, many of them civilians." [ end of excerpt ]
Remember Kruschev's threat: "We will BURY you!" Communism was a REAL THREAT to the United States back then...
On the back of the book: "David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University"
Hmmm..."Haaah-vid" Land of Timothy Leary and his fallen legacy...
Author Steven Schlesinger is "Director of the World Policy Institute"
(New York City...that figures...) Kinzer -- Boston Globe, New York Times, ditto...Coatsworth and Nuccio, Haaa-vid...Amherst...Typical C-SPAN panel of elitist liberal academics, all speaking matter-of-factly, as though they were speaking the truth, rather than half-truths and, at times, outright misinformation.
Does the public buy it? Some do, some don't. Listen to the callers...
no, don't bother ! They screen them, and it's all sooooo predictable...
Books like this one, "Bitter Fruit," are interesting, but are funded by
spoiled, wealthy liberals with burnt-out brain cells, and marketed by
those who probably believe all that stuff...don't know any better...
The problem I have with this brand of propaganda is that it says that America is an EVIL country, founded by EVIL men, who "stole" the land from the poor, helpless indigenous folks...The people who come up with all these interpretations generally have some form of collectivist agenda, be it Marxist, or socialist...(Howard Zinn, for example).
What would they have done instead?
Well, consider Stalin, and Chairman Mao...They would've done
the same AND WORSE. Therefore, these revisionist "historians"
are HYPOCRITES ! What are their "solutions?" Reparations?
Punish the great-grandchildren? Massive immigration as a punitive
measure, punishing the white race, working-class included, for some
imaginary crimes others supposedly committed, balkanizing the
country...Teaching schoolchildren to be ashamed of their country...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Do yourself a favor . . . read this book!, 2007-09-23
Whether you're a connoiseur with a PhD in international relations, a high-school dropout looking to enhance their missing education, or someone who just wants to read an engrossing book with a little intellectual flare to it, one can be both entertained and appalled by the story contained in "Bitter Fruit".
Kinzer and Schlesinger's writing is impeccable, and somehow manages to stay apolitical. The authors do an excellent job of not flaunting the miscues of the American overthrow of Guatemala's democratically elected government, but merely let the facts from all angles tell their own story. In addition, the writing is quite fast-paced in style but pays attentive detail to fact and exhautively denotes the sources behind the writing. I purchased this for reading as part of a class assignment - and then cited it in two places in my senior essay!
So instead of buying a FICTIONAL thriller or adventure or spy novel for your downtime reading, why not pick up a book where the plot . . . actually happened?! In addition, despite being originally published a quarter century ago, the book is amazingly relevant to issues in today's foreign policy (*cough* Iraq *cough*). Also, I HIGHLY recommend for history buffs like myself - but this book can be enjoyed by anyone. Well, "enjoyed" isn't really the word - after reading this book, I felt a sense of anger towards our government for their selfish actions 50 years ago, and a sense of pity toward the people of Guatemala, who had no idea what hit them. But the feelings weren't on the level as to wish that I had never read the book - on the contrary, it made me feel more enlightened both about the Cold War era as well as today's international climate.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Can You Name The Seven Central American Countries?, 2007-05-20
After reading this one, you will not forget Guatemala.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Great blunder for the US, 2006-12-28
America has staged many coup's throughout the years but this one will always hold a special place in history. Feeling good from our overthrow of the Shah we attempted to put our own government in Guatemala and entered a botched attempt that would lead to disaster. America's involvement in Latin America has always been tenuous with the natives but this account really shows why they fear and hate us at times. It is very well written and covers the information clearly. Highly recommend.
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