'Washington Bullets' by Vijay Prashad is a scintillating read that delves into the dark side of US foreign policy and imperialism. It educates readers on the consequences of American actions on other countries, shedding light on the machinery of geopolitics employed by the US to promote its interests, often at the expense of others. Prashad's writing style is praised for being eloquent, concise, and informative, providing a comprehensive overview of the US's history of political assassinations, government overthrows, and military interventions since World War II.

Writing/Prose:

The prose varies from coherent storytelling to disjointed sections that feel under-researched, impacting the overall clarity.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative covers CIA interventions and their global implications since WWII, but lacks depth in its treatment of many events.

Setting:

The setting spans multiple international locales affected by U.S. actions throughout the 20th century.

Pacing:

The pacing can feel uneven, making it a quick read but sometimes hard to follow.

Divine right is an old, established principle. It means that Kings have the right – ordained by God – to act in any way that they wish. Human-made laws are of no consequence beside the awesome power o...

Genres:

nonfiction

political analysis

historical overview

Topics:

cia coups

political assassinations

imperialism

u.s. foreign intervention

socialism

colonial history

cold war interventions

u.s. foreign policy critique

Notes:

The book 'Washington Bullets' is by Vijay Prashad, who also wrote 'Red Star Over the Third World.'

'Washington Bullets' discusses the history of CIA coups and assassinations, but some readers found it too short at only 153 pages.

The book provides for a brief overview rather than a detailed history of CIA activities.

It covers the Guatemalan coup in detail but barely touches on others like the Grenada invasion.

The author does not include footnotes or sources, relying instead on his lifetime of reading and activism.

Some readers were frustrated by the lack of citations for claims made in the book.

The writing style is described as sometimes incoherent and reminiscent of a Twitter thread.

The book attempts to explain U.S. imperialism without directly stating that it's an empire.

Prashad's writing is seen as passionate Marxist journalism with a focus on telling stories.

'Washington Bullets' reveals how the U.S. destabilizes other countries often under the guise of promoting democracy.

The book is recommended for Americans to understand the history of their government's foreign policy.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

The content warnings for Washington Bullets would be high due to its graphic discussions of violence and political assassinations associated with U.S. foreign policies.

From The Publisher:

Essays on acts of US imperialism, from the 1953 Iran coup to the 2019 ouster of Evo Morales

Washington Bullets is written in the best traditions of Marxist journalism and history-writing. It is a book of fluent and readable stories, full of detail about US imperialism, but never letting the minutiae obscure the larger political point. It is a book that could easily have been a song of despair-a lament of lost causes; it is, after all, a roll call of butchers and assassins; of plots against people's movements and governments; of the assassinations of socialists, Marxists, communists all over the Third World by the country where liberty is a statue.

Despite all this, Washington Bullets is a book about possibilities, about hope, about genuine heroes. One such is Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso-also assassinated-who said: 'You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.'

Washington Bullets is a book infused with this madness, the madness that dares to invent the future.

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Washington Bullets

Vijay Prashad