Bitter Fruit
The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, Revised and Expanded

Damning historical expose probes the American coup d'etat against Jacobo Arbenz's left-leaning government in Guatemala. Kinzer and Schlesinger do a fine job sketching Guatemalan history and culture, showing that small nation slowly but inexorably moving from military rule towards fragile democracy........more

I ordered this book because I had to give a conference in Guatemala and was confused about the beginning of the country's long armed conflict. I figured this was a good place to start, and it was. It helped me understand better not only the American role in Guatemala, but also a lot of the current a......more

This, like Kinzer's All the Shah's Men, is a very readable history designed for the non-specialist. Unlike some histories, the authors do not conceal their disdain for those Washington policy-makers, most particularly the Dulles brothers, who destroyed the fledgling Guatemalan democracy's attempts a......more

The classic liberal exposé of the US coup in Guatemala. This does a good job relaying the story of the coup, the history leading up to it, and the immediate aftermath. Where it stumbles is it's political analysis, where the authors liberalism really holds it back. The book's authors point out the dif......more

Bitter Fruit: The American Coup in Guatemala, Stephen Schlesinger & Stephen Kinzer, 2005 (This is a 1982 book plus 36 pages of 2005 front matter and a 10-page 2005 afterword), 330pp., ISBN 067401930X, Dewey 972.81052 Focused on 1954, with enough before & after to be a good overview of what happened a......more