New York: PublicAffairs, 2006. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xvii, [3], 251, [1] pages. Notes. Additional Reading. Index. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads April 27, 2007 For Eric Green with Regards---Sweig. In 1945, the U.S. was the founding impulse behind the cornerstones of the international community--the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and most of all, the United Nations. Untainted by colonialism or fascism, heroic in warfare and idealistic at home, the U.S. presented itself as a paragon to inspire a less noble and divided world. Sixty years later, that perception had almost completely been reversed. America had, in fact, quietly sowed the seeds of its own decline in the eyes of the world in its own backyard. Anti-Americanism flourished among America's closest allies beyond the Americas in a way, and to a depth, not seen before. As this reaches a crucial tipping point, Julia E. Sweig offers a masterly and incisive history of what went wrong, and a feisty and compelling prescription for how to sort it out. Anti-Americanism, now a global phenomenon, was road tested in South America when most of the rest of the world was too distracted to notice or care. There, under the guise of anti-communism, we sponsored dictatorships, turned a blind eye to killing squads, and tolerated the subversion of democracy. Almost nobody knew,, so it didn't really matter, right? Wrong on two counts. First, South America remembered. And second, encouraged by our success, we convinced ourselves that almost nobody knew, so it didn't really matter, right? More