Biography of Alan and John Foster Dulles, head of the CIA/State Department during a big chunk of the post-WWII period. They were terrible human beings convinced of their Christian, pro-American big business righteousness—when not in government, they represented major businesses with interests overseas, including in places whose governments they later helped overthrow on the grounds that they weren’t pro-capitalist enough. Foster Dulles (1) thought that Gurkhas were Pakistani (they are not), (2) when informed that they were not, said, well, they’re Muslim (they are not), and (3) as a result of his beliefs, insisted that Pakistan be included in a regional compact in a region of which it was not part, which contributed to the dissolution of that compact, though I suppose that might be a good thing given how awful his aims generally were. So much of the world has reason to despise America, and the Dulles brothers oversaw a big chunk of that—more, possibly, than the Koch brothers. That said, it’s not clear that much would have differed without them; as the author emphasizes, they were products of their (white, Christian, male, wealthy) environment and the other people around them, especially the Republicans and especially Eisenhower, thought similarly. ( )

That the USA played... plays... these kinds of nasty games, yeah I had some vague awareness. But to be walked through the sordid details is still shocking. What was most amazing about this book was to see how incompetent these brothers were. What's truly upsetting is to see these kinds of willfully ignorant attitudes returning to political power, along with the ruthlessness that they promote. Will the USA be the next country taken down by theocratic psyops? ( )

Stephen Kinzer's book, "The Brothers" provides a somewhat unpleasant look into what was going on behind the scenes during the Cold War in the 50's and early 60's. Fighting Communism was the predominant obsession in the U.S., and the Dulles brothers were key players. If you're a fan of the U.S. foreign policy during those years, and / or of the Dulles brothers, this is may not be the book for you, because it doesn't portray them in the best light in retrospect.

It's also not a book which is likely to make international friends for the U.S. It highlights U.S. interference and fostering of regime changes / overthrows in a number of Countries. It starts with interference in Iran and Guatemala, for financial and U.S. business interests as much as for ideological reasons. Kinzer continues with stories of the Dulles brothers unsuccessful attempts to remove Ho Chi Minh from power in Vietnam, Sukarno in Indonesia, then the assassination of President Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. For good measure, there are a few other unsuccessful targets of overthrow plots as well. No wonder the Third World Countries developed a distrust of the U.S. during that time.

Given the tensions of those times, it's understandable why any National leader who was Communist would be placed in the enemy camp by the Dulles brothers. But it wasn't only foreign leaders who were explicitly Communist who became targets. If one even leaned toward communism, or equally important, one who didn't explicitly show he was anti-communist; he was likely to become a target for the Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency during these years. John Foster Dulles was portrayed as being particularly harsh in his actions to leaders of these post-Colonial countries.

Additionally, John Foster and Allen are not presented as particularly likeable guys in their personal lives. John Foster, in his position as Secretary of State, seemed to work to instill an imminent sense of danger into the American psyche from foreign powers and Communism, warranted or not. Also, the brothers were far from role models in their personal lives. Neither brother was able to sustain a relationship with their children, and Allen seemed to take every opportunity to be unfaithful to his wife during his long career.

Luckily for them, the National Press was fairly accepting of the government positions at the time, and not particularly aggressive in digging into the personal lives of the political figures. Thus, the lies the brothers told went unchallenged. So they ended their respective careers held in high esteem, and it's only in retrospect that their reputations are being looked at with less favor.
( )

Well written, intriguing account on post WWII American history. Heard Kinzer speak about how much he disliked the Dulles brothers. However, he keeps to great detail in documenting them =) ( )

The most fascinating story in Kinzer's biography of John Foster and Allen Dulles is that of their sister, Eleanor, an economist who worked for the State Department for decades until Dean Rusk asked her to resign in the wake of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Kinzer's portrait of the brothers judges them harshly, John Foster for his inability to see nationalist movements in places like Iran and Vietnam only as Soviet proxies in an aggressive war against the West, and Allen for his obsession with covert operations to remove leaders and regimes in other countries. ( )