12/13/2023 0 Comments Smedley butler threatprism through which to view essentially the establishment of the American empire." "An incredible new biography of Smedley Butler. “Really remarkable … takes it to the next level.” -Clint Smith, Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for How the Word Is Passed Daniel Immerwahr, professor of history at Northwestern University and author of How to Hide An Empire By following Butler’s bloody trail around the world, Katz thoughtfully reckons with empire’s true cost” “A taut, unnerving account of the Marine who carried the Stars and Stripes all over the globe. an exhilarating hybrid of studious history and adventuresome travelogue." "Like Butler himself, Katz’s book is singular and hard to pin down. Mike Duncan, New York Times bestselling author and host of the Revolutions podcast For anyone seeking to understand how the modern world came to be, Gangsters of Capitalism is an essential book." - Ben Fountain, author of the National Book Award Finalist Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk As much as anyone, General Smedley Butler personified the first four decades of the American imperium, and this excellent biography-as compelling and colorful as the man himself-goes far toward tallying the true costs of empire. What truly sets this biography in a class by itself is Jonathan Katz's Olympian resolve to follow in his subject's literal footsteps, an odyssey that becomes a kind of atlas or meditative travel guide to the origins of America's bloody overseas empire. " Gangsters of Capitalism may well be the most intrepid biography you will ever read, and not only for the depth of its research, its masterful grasp of context and character, or its monumental reach across space and time. Katz’s engaging style brings history alive." "A stunning book, part secret history and part globe-spanning journalism … Deeply reported and masterfully told, this book is indispensable reading from one of America’s most important foreign correspondents." -Christopher Leonard, New York Times bestselling author of Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America a compelling and insightful meditation on the trauma people still feel as a result of Butler’s career and the American ambitions it represented." "The book is far more extraordinary than even the life of Smedley Butler. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy today, Gangsters of Capitalism tells an urgent story about a formative era most Americans have never learned about, but that the rest of the world cannot forget. Tracing a path from the first wave of U.S. imperialism remain a vital force shaping politics and culture across the globe. In doing so, Katz reveals how memories of U.S. Jonathan Myerson Katz traveled the world recreating Butler’s journeys and pored over the personal letters of the Marine, his comrades, and his family on Philadelphia’s Main Line. He said "war is a racket" and declared: “I was a racketeer for capitalism." Yet in retirement, Butler turned into a warrior against war and big business. From his days as a teenage recruit at the newly seized Guantánamo Bay, he blazed a path for empire: helping annex the Philippines and the land for the Panama Canal, leading troops in China (twice), and invading and occupying Nicaragua, Haiti, Mexico, and more. Wherever the flag went, the "Fighting Quaker” went―in nearly every major overseas conflict from 1898 until the eve of World War II. Bestselling books were written about him. Was the most celebrated warfighter of his time.
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