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A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet

A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet

List Price: $15.95
Your Price: $10.85
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Solid Journalistic Account
Review: "A Nation of Enemies" is a fascinating and well-balanced account of the Pinochet years in Chile. The book chronicles the abuses and the successes (yes, there were a few, particularly where the economy was concerned) of one of Latin America's more notorious dictators. Pinochet's reign could be described as the banality of evil. There was considerable political repression, and hundreds of Chileans lost their lives, but his was a rule more by ham-handed thuggery than systematic destruction like the Nazis. In the end, Pinochet was brought down not by revolution, but by his own ineptness.

The authors do a good job in providing the historical context for their story. They show both how Chile had a strong tradition of democracy before Pinochet, and how the excesses of his Socialist predecessor Allende helped lead to the coup that brought him to power. The authors also debunk the notion that the U.S. was behind the coup, though they acknowledge that the Nixon administration and the CIA did everything they could to politically undermine Allende before the coup.

The book is broken down into sections covering various aspects of Chilean society, rather than chronologically. The last chapter deals with the events that led to Pinochet's electoral downfall, and the relatively peaceful return to democracy in Chile. If the book has a drawback, it is that it was published in 1991, and therefore lacks a chapter on post-Pinochet Chile.

Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in world history or politics.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Non-Indigenous Nation of Enemies
Review: Constable and Valenzuela have produced what will be considered a standard text in Chilean studies, sharing that position with works like Brian Loveman's CHILE. However, it is unfortunate that one can read A NATION OF ENEMIES from cover-to-cover and never learn that Chile has a sizeable indigenous population which was affected by the dictatorship as well. Under Pinochet, the Aymara and the Mapuche were oppressed and by rendering them invisible in their publication, Constable and Valenzuela further that oppression.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Setting the scene
Review: I have lived in Chile for close on 4 years now. I am not sure it will ever be possible to fully understand the Chilean psych. However - this book does bring you an inch or two closer to doing so. It certainly helps you understand why Chilean think and react the way they do to the subject of the dictatorship. However I believe that before being published in paperback -this book should have an additional chapter on the last decade and the dramatic changes that have taken place since 1991.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Setting the scene
Review: I have lived in Chile for close on 4 years now. I am not sure it will ever be possible to fully understand the Chilean psych. However - this book does bring you an inch or two closer to doing so. It certainly helps you understand why Chilean think and react the way they do to the subject of the dictatorship. However I believe that before being published in paperback -this book should have an additional chapter on the last decade and the dramatic changes that have taken place since 1991.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Balanced and Detailed
Review: I keep buying copies of this book for my friends, both gringos and chileans. I've been in Chile almost 3 years and this book has done more for my understanding of the dynamics of left and right in this contry than I thought a book could do. It is well balanced and very detailed. You will read here many things that people just won't talk about but are critical to understanding contemporary Chile. If you have any interest in this country, you need to read this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellent overview of the Pinochet years in Chile.
Review: There has been a lot of trash written about Pinochet, but this book along with Soldiers in a Narrow Land have a very balanced perspective. As the title states, there were both supporters of Pinochet and the Armed Forces, and there were opponents. Allende was not skillful in leading his country through the changes of the seventies, so a ruluctant Pinochet and the Armed Forces removed him. The excesses of the reign of terror following the coup de etat are unforgiveable, but one should remember that in Argentina the dirty war killed close to twenty thousand, where Chile's coup and terror killed 3,000.
The authors do a great job describing the successes and failures of the Pinochet regime. Also a good description of the power struggles within the Armed Forces themselves (Air Force versus Army). The one thing needing improvement in this book is an update on what has since happened in Chile.
Since I am marrying a Chilean, I found this book a great way to know more about this country. It describes the still powerful emotion in Chile over Pinochet (positive and negative).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellent overview of the Pinochet years in Chile.
Review: There has been a lot of trash written about Pinochet, but this book along with Soldiers in a Narrow Land have a very balanced perspective. As the title states, there were both supporters of Pinochet and the Armed Forces, and there were opponents. Allende was not skillful in leading his country through the changes of the seventies, so a ruluctant Pinochet and the Armed Forces removed him. The excesses of the reign of terror following the coup de etat are unforgiveable, but one should remember that in Argentina the dirty war killed close to twenty thousand, where Chile's coup and terror killed 3,000.
The authors do a great job describing the successes and failures of the Pinochet regime. Also a good description of the power struggles within the Armed Forces themselves (Air Force versus Army). The one thing needing improvement in this book is an update on what has since happened in Chile.
Since I am marrying a Chilean, I found this book a great way to know more about this country. It describes the still powerful emotion in Chile over Pinochet (positive and negative).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very compelling
Review: They should make a movie about this even tought we we have films like missing or waking the dead. they should make one about pinochet himself he is an infimous figure who took everything when the oppritunity was right a true tyrant in every saince of the word and the book it self shows this. every one should reixamine history even this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very compelling
Review: They should make a movie about this even tought we we have films like missing or waking the dead. they should make one about pinochet himself he is an infimous figure who took everything when the oppritunity was right a true tyrant in every saince of the word and the book it self shows this. every one should reixamine history even this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Stunning tale of Repression.
Review: This is a sad and stunning tale of a country overtaken by a military which was bent on remaking Chile in its own image: to be rigid; to be unbending; to enslave itself; to torture the soul and people of Chile. Pinochet ushered in an ugly period which the idle observer may discern as bringing order to disorder; however walk a step into the National Stadium and the other torture centers and you would have seen that only disorder and calamity could come of such extreme conditions. As a person who has studied and written about this time in Chile, I would recommend this book as a primer in understanding the basics of the Pinochet era. It may not delve in other aspects, such as what role the U.S. had (which was considerable) in bringing about and sustaining the Pinochet regime; it may not touch upon every aspect of Chile during this time; but it is a solid basis in understanding the nature of the Pinochet regime and their repressive aims.


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