Selser was recognized by critics as "a Latin Americanist committed to freedom and justice." His books covered a wide array of contentious Latin American issues and events, including the 1903 Separation of Panama from Colombia, the installation of the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, the Alliance for Progress, the 1964 overthrow of Dominican Republic President Juan Bosch and the subsequent U.S. occupation, the 1973 coup in Chile, psy-ops carried out in Latin America, the 1980 Cocaine Coup in Bolivia, the Salvadoran Civil War, the 1989 Operation Just Cause, and other topics.