Review of “U.S. Foreign Policy and the Crisis of Humanity” by Daniel Silver

In the words of comedian Louis Black, “Let the rant begin!”

I have read worse books but I can’t remember when. This is written as if the author were venting their spleen, even if the topic should be of interest to everyone. The number of typos, bad grammar, poor citations, run-on sentences, and every other lexicon error possible is staggering. Furthermore, the lack of references and missing footnotes etc for bold statements is unparalleled for what was sold to me as a serious political science analysis.

The topic is one I am familiar with, having lived through most of these events as an adult. I didn’t see any serious errors, mostly because the author relies heavily on direct quotes from other writers, many of whom I am familiar with. I appreciate the approach, which is kind of like a metadata analysis, summarizing published work within a specific frame. As you would expect, this can lead to misrepresentation of events and statements taken out of context; and that is what happens.

I agree with the author that, taken in whole, the post-WW II global financial infrastructure is a product of American economic imperialism and seemingly desperate attempt at world hegemony. However, the author presents a series of activities undertaken by different U.S. policies by administrations that certainly did not share ideals or goals, as if it was a smoothly executed grand scheme. He really has a grudge against the Council on Foreign Relations, and rebuts several articles that appeared in their magazine, Foreign Affairs. Without question, the CFR as well as many other influential academic organizations have been influential in developing a U.S. foreign policy based on Neoliberalism. I reviewed a book on this very subject in this blog. The consequences of applying hypercapitalism to developing economies are vividly described by the author and are undisputed, although the U.S.-led world order tends to blame the people within this large block rather than their own economic imperialism (see, I’m doing it too).

Despite feeling that I paid $15 to read someone’s master thesis (maybe undergraduate honors thesis), I enjoyed seeing all of these events and publicly declared policies described in one short book. Nevertheless, it is sloppy and thus his point is lost in confusion.

The objective of organizations like the CFR and the Trilateral Commission (one of the early leaders in Neoliberal international policies) isn’t a secret so it shouldn’t be treated as a conspiracy; I give the author credit for never once calling this a conspiracy.

He’s just ranting, and I don’t blame him …