This book covers much ground of the diplomatic history between Chile ans the US between 1880 and 1962. Challenges to US diplomacy in the hemisphere taking into account social crisis in Chile and the emergence of social reform minded movements and governments. The author's thesis is that the basis of Chile's social crisis (and he was prescient in this), is that the cardinal feature of its way of life "is a socio-political structure based on paternalism." That is, a privileged minority that is "served by a non-participating, non-privileged majority." This, in fact, came to pass, and the US played a major role in the institutional break experienced in Chile in 1973.