There is a long history of inter-American relations, and a history almost as long of studies of these relations. In such a crowded field, it is increasingly difficult to find new questions to ask, or new answers to old questions. With the aid of newly declassified documents, both in the US and in Latin America, along with oral interviews conducted by the author, Tanya Harmer brings a new perspective to this old field. Harmer's book is an account of a crucial period in the inter-American Cold War, a term calling attention to her idea that the struggle among American nations was not a projection of the larger Cold War, but rather a “unique, multisided contest” (2).

Harmer provides a new angle from which to view Allende's presidency, emphasizing the need to view the period from different perspectives. Rejecting the simplistic nature of the “who-did-it” debate, Harmer focusses instead on the complexity of the events in question. In a field dominated by studies of how the actors in the US influenced Latin American affairs, Harmer brings the attention away from the US, instead emphasizing the agency Latin American actors had in directing their own affairs. She demonstrates that “the United States did not act alone but worked with regional actors and was sometimes dragged into further involvement in inter-American affairs by them” (10).

Echoing E. P. Thompson, Harmer believes that “the Cubans’ and the Chileans’ story – their ‘agency’ … – deserves rescuing,” no matter how difficult or inconvenient that might be (255, original emphasis). The task of the historian is to help gain a fuller understanding of the past. Harmer recognizes and fully demonstrates the need to “tell all sides of the story and how they related to each other” in order to accomplish this task (255). Though this is a book about Allende's Chile, its focus is on Allende's foreign policies, and how they affected Chile's place in the world. To complete the narrative, Harmer also includes the stories of the most powerful actors in inter-American affairs. Though it is well covered, she seeks new perspectives on the Nixon administration, its policies and motivations. Her greatest contribution, though, is in her study of Fidel Castro's Cuba, and its role in the inter-American Cold War.

Harmer's work is in essence a study of what motivated the actions of the three major players during Allende's term as President. Harmer describes Castro as committed “to revolutionary upheaval … [and to] a fight to the death with imperialism” (258). Nixon's motives in opposing Allende seem clear enough. He recognized that though relatively weak, as a region Latin America was “pivotal” (259). Though not a new argument, Harmer describes well the idea that in the larger struggle championing capitalism over the USSR's communism, it was crucial that the US not allow a government with Soviet connections to remain in Latin America. Harmer describes Allende himself as something of an idealist. The early 1970s were a time of détente, but, as Harmer notes, not for the Third World. Allende saw an opportunity in détente, but overestimated the unity of the Third World, and Chile's ability to resist the influence of the dominant powers.

Harmer's book is based in part on new materials recently made available, though as she herself notes, “the opportunity is not only in the documents available but in asking different questions when we look at them” (277). Apart from new and old documents, Harmer conducted oral interviews with about thirty diplomats, politicians, citizens, ex-revolutionaries, and more, allowing the actors themselves to describe the events in question. She also includes documents from archives in seven separate countries, and an extensive list of secondary sources.

The past is not static, and past events, people, and ideas do not easily fit into convenient categories. While no one would admit to this belief, the strategy of labeling and categorization has nevertheless dominated the study of the past. Harmer rejects this strategy, recognizing that labels may make a subject easier to study, but do not lead to a full study, instead only to ambiguity and misrepresentation. In embracing the multiple perspectives of the inter-American Cold War, Harmer gives us the most complete study to date of Allende's Chile and its role in international relations.