America Invades: How We've Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth

by Christopher Kelly, Stuart Laycock

Americans have invaded nearly half the world's countries and been militarily involved with all the rest, except Andorra, Bhutan and Liechtenstein. Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock take you on a global tour of America's military activity around the world from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli and everywhere in-between. Whatever your political views this is an extraordinary and often surprising story. With personal photos, maps and an index to assist America Invades: How We've Invaded or Been Militarily Involved with Almost Every Country on Earth gives us history as it should be taught--calling out for more!

Genres: History, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2014

Reviews

[Randal White · Rating 3 out of 5]

America Invades is a very fun read about all of the countries that America has been militarily involved with. I have to admit, it amazed me. It appears that we (America) have managed to get into military affairs in every country on the planet, with the exception of three (Andorra, Bhutan and Liechtenstein). Besides blowing my mind, I found it very disturbing! The authors write with a easily digestible manner (reminds me of the Uncle John Bathroom Readers), never overwhelming you with minute details. The book is laid out with each country in alphabetical order, most entries only a couple pages long. It would be a great book to have sitting next to your favorite chair, where you could pick it up during commercials and quickly read a country's entry. Highly recommended, especially if you want to impress your friends/coworkers!

[Annerjoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very easy read. The countries are listed alphabetically and each country's summary is two to five pages. The authors were very thorough in their research and were able to give details in an engaging way. If you like history, you will love this book.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trivia lovers heaven. Short informative snippets. Almost entirely lacking editorial comments or bias

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that America has invaded many countries in its time (and continues to do so) or at the very least has been involved militarily in some way. But I was rather shocked to discover in this eye-opening and really compelling book just how many – they have invaded nearly half the world’s countries at some time and been involved militarily with nearly all the rest. The only ones to escape – so far – are Andorra, Bhutan and Liechtenstein.
In a lively and accessible style the authors have thoroughly researched their material and present the reader with a comprehensive yet concise account of America’s actions. Countries are listed alphabetically, so it’s easy to check out the ones you are particularly interested in. Sobering reading indeed. Ideal for students, historians, the general reader – just about everyone really. Highly recommended.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Christopher Kelly (https://americainvades.com/) published the book “America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth” in 2015. Mr. Kelly has published four books.

I met the author at the “Battleground 1863” event at the Texas Military Forces Museum a few months ago. He had a table set up in the museum with his books on display. He offered me a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I categorize this book as ‘G’.

As the title implies, this book looks at the military involvement of the US in the countries of the world. As it turns out, the US has invaded or fought in 84 of the 194 countries of the world. It has had some sort of military involvement with 191 of the countries.

For some countries, the entry is half a page. A few will go as long as three pages. This is a book that can be easily read in small time chunks. I found it very interesting to see where the US military or covert operations have been active. In particular, I found the WWII involvement of interest. If you are interested in any period of military history, you will find this book of interest.

I thought that the 12.5 hours I spent reading this 416-page history book were interesting. I like the selected cover art. I give this book a 4 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author's writing skills need work, the overuse of the phrase "for instance" needs to be banned from usage in any of the author's future writings. Other than that, was an interesting book, a bit of humor, many facts, but I do take exception to accidental overflights i.e., Switzerland during WWII, counting as an invasion of a country. There were a few more similar instances throughout the book such as port visits, private citizens going on "adventures", etc. But I do agree with the author's main point, America has "visited" many, many, many countries, uninvited, while under arms.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good and comprehensive book on the history of American warfare, divided neatly by chapter. A few things get repeated (WW2 covered a lot of countries!) and as such it is probably a bit tiresome if read in one sitting. I highly recommend keeping this in the bathroom library, however, and learning some geopolitics as you go.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I liked the format of alphabetizing the counties but I barely made to the Cs when it became clear that while some instances were well deserved of being a military intervention or invasion, other instances showed the authors obvious bias. When a US Navy ship stopping at port is considered military involvement it just shows how low the threshold is. There was another example when a US Air Force plane delivered an ambulance. Yep you got us, the US War Machine is on the march. The authors even include when a US civilian attempted to take over some country as an example.

One classification that I really took issue with was including the countries that our sole involvement with was liberating them in World War II. Really? They are going to include us freeing people from the Nazis?

I think the authors had great potential for this book. I'm in complete agreement that we've stuck our noses in way too many places. We truly have become the world's policeman and its time for us to stop. The cost in money, lives, diplomatically and politically has been way too high. Its time for us to start tell others "Not our problem". However, the authors blew it by setting the bar so low it made it difficult to take serious. It left little room to doubt the motivation of the authors which was to make the US military look like it was just running rough shod over 99.9% of the world.

I rarely let a book defeat me but this one got added to list of less than 20 books in my life that I did not finish.