School of Assassins: Guns, Greed, and Globalization

by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Roy Bourgeois (Foreword by)

School of Guns, Greed, and Globalization [Paperback] [Oct 31, 2001...

Genres: Nonfiction, History

155 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[James Midkiff]

Having bought this book for a final essay on the School of the Americas (SOA), I felt like I was reading more of a critique of globalization rather than an analysis of the School of the Americas because the author talked about the SOA for less than half of the book. Although the author's points are valid, they seem to be a cursory and hasty connection of ideas rather than a well-developed point of view. In addition, the author has a specific agenda having come from the religious movement seeking to shut down the school; he does not treat the topic very scholarly.

[David]

An indictment of U.S. policy in Latin America and specifically how the School of the Americas fits into that policy, this book is rather preachy and very repetitive. The point can be made in the first chapter; the school trained Latin American militaries in repressive and murderous strategies. These techniques were created to foster a repressive environment and foster better economic prospects for us. His other main argument is that all these dictators and death squad leaders are not rogue agents, they are examples of exactly what the school wants from its graduates.

Everythign written seems very true, but the books problems are that he has boring, dry academic text mixed in with fiery language....who should make up his mind: serious text or angry rant?