# Killing Hope

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum is a history book on CIA covert operations and United States military interventions during the second half of the 20th century. The book, published in 1995 by Common Courage Press, takes a strongly critical view of American foreign policy. It is an updated and revised version of one of Blum's previous works, The CIA - A Forgotten History (1986).
The book covers various US foreign policy ventures from just after World War II onward. Its basic premise is that the American Cold War-era activities abroad were done with imperialist motives.

## Chapters

* China 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-tung just paranoid?
* Italy 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style
* Greece 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state
* The Philippines 1940s and 1950s: America's oldest colony
* Korea 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be?
* Albania 1949-1953: The proper English spy
* Eastern Europe 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor
* Germany 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism
* Iran 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings
* Guatemala 1953-1954: While the world watched
* Costa Rica mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally, part I
* Syria 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government
* The Middle East 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America
* Indonesia 1957-1958: War and pornography
* Western Europe 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts
* British Guiana 1953-1964: The CIA's international labor mafia
* Soviet Union late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing
* Italy 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal's orphans and techno-fascism
* Vietnam 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus
* Cambodia 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism
* Laos 1957-1973: L'Armee Clandestine
* Haiti 1959-1963: The Marines land, again
* Guatemala 1960: One good coup deserves another
* France/Algeria 1960s: L'etat, c'est la CIA
* Ecuador 1960-1963: A textbook of dirty tricks
* The Congo 1960-1964: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba
* Brazil 1961-1964: Introducing the marvelous new world of death squads
* Peru 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle
* Dominican Republic 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy
* Cuba 1959 to 1980s: The unforgivable revolution
* Indonesia 1965: Liquidating President Sukarno ... and 500,000 others East Timor 1975: And 200,000 more
* Ghana 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line
* Uruguay 1964-1970: Torture—as American as apple pie
* Chile 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child's forehead
* Greece 1964-1974: "Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution," said the President of the United States
* Bolivia 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d'etat
* Guatemala 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized "final solution"
* Costa Rica 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally, part II
* Iraq 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work
* Australia 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust
* Angola 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game
* Zaire 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven
* Jamaica 1976-1980: Kissinger's ultimatum
* Seychelles 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance
* Grenada 1979-1984: Lying—one of the few growth industries in Washington
* Morocco 1983: A video nasty
* Suriname 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman
* Libya 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match
* Nicaragua 1978-1990: Destabilization in slow motion
* Panama 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier
* Bulgaria 1990/Albania 1991: Teaching Communists what democracy is all about
* Iraq 1990-1991: Desert holocaust
* Afghanistan 1979-1992: America's Jihad
* El Salvador 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington style
* Haiti 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?
* The American Empire: 1992 to present 383

## Critical reception

Noam Chomsky called the book "far and away the best book on the topic." John Stockwell described it as "[t]he single most useful summary of CIA history", Ramsey Clark judged it a "valuable contribution", and International Security's Teresa Pelton Johnson wrote: "Blum has performed a very important service in collecting this information in one place, and the documentation is praiseworthy."
Ted Dace characterized Killing Hope as "[a] good, long look in the mirror".
Reviewing the earlier version of the book, Choice's R. H. Immerman wrote: "By falling prey to the same Manichean absolutism that has hamstrung US global policies, Blum has compromised the credibility of his work. He has nevertheless produced a valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of US foreign policy."
In the LSE Review of Books, LSE doctoral researcher Julia Muravska unfavorably compared Killing Hope with the work of academic historians such as William Keylor, stating that Blum's criticism of the U.S. occurs in an historical vacuum without any consideration for Soviet actions that "would have also helped the reader understand what drove the US foreign policy decisions that today's citizens find so morally repugnant." Although she noted that much of the book is "heavily and meticulously footnoted," Muravska harshly criticized the 2014 edition's "The American Empire Post-Cold War" chapter for "unsubstantiated claims" and shallow analysis, claiming that "Blum relies on ... RT to make his case" regarding the post-2014 Russo-Ukrainian War.

## Editions

First published in 1995, it has since been updated several times by the author.
* 1998 revised edition (Black Rose Books) ISBN 1-55164-096-1
* 2003 revised edition (Common Courage Press) ISBN 1-84277-369-0
* 2004 Updated Edition (Common Courage Press) ISBN 1-56751-252-6
* 2014 Updated Edition (Zed Books) ISBN 978-1783601776