Thy will be done: the conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the age of oil

Description

The United States' secret history of financial, political, and cultural exploitation of Latin America in the mid-twentieth century is revealed in this "blistering expose", with a new introduction by the authors (Publishers Weekly). What happened when a wealthy industrialist and a visionary evangelist unleashed forces that joined to subjugate an entire continent' Historians Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett tell the story of the forty-year campaign led by Standard Oil scion Nelson Rockefeller and Wycliffe Bible Translators founder William Cameron Townsend to establish a US imperial beachhead in Central and South America. Beginning in the 1940s, future Vice President Rockefeller worked with the CIA and allies in the banking industry to prop up repressive governments, devastate the Amazon rain forest, and destabilize local economies-all in the name of anti-Communism. Meanwhile, Townsend and his army of missionaries sought to undermine the belief systems of the region's indigenous peoples and convert them to Christianity. Their combined efforts would have tragic and long-lasting repercussions, argue the authors of this "well-documented" (Los Angeles Times) book-the product of eighteen years of research-which legendary progressive historian Howard Zinn called "an extraordinary piece of investigative history. Its message is powerful, its data overwhelming and impressive.";Cover Page; Title Page; Contents; Series Introduction; The End of an Era: An Introduction and Brief Update for the 2017 Edition; Introduction; I: The Legacy; 1 The Baptist Burden; 2 The Fundamentalist Controversy; 3 Rethinking Missions; 4 The Apostolic Vision; 5 The Rites of Political Passage; 6 Good Neighbors Make Good Allies; 7 The Mexican Tightrope; II: World War II: The Crucible; 8 The Coordinator; 9 The Sword of the Spirit; 10 The Shining Dream; 11 The Dancer; 12 Preempting the Cold War; 13 Latin America's First Cold War Coup; III: Architects of Empire; 14 American Wings over the Amazon.