Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and "Nation Building" in the Kennedy Era (New Cold War History)

Modernization as Ideology is a useful overview of the Kennedy and Johnson Administration's attempts to impact the Third World during the Cold War to bring countries into the sphere of capitalism and the West. This book is extremely detailed concerning the Alliance for Progress in Latin America, the Peace Corps, particularly in Africa, and the Strategic Hamlet program in Vietnam, providing a clear summary of the efforts of these programs and their relative successes. In this, the book is successful. In presenting soft power attempts to influence the Cold War, this book is important to demonstrate earlier trends of what today is becoming a crucial field of foreign relations study. However, I give it three stars because it largely fails to present, in my opinion, a overall background picture of later impacts of these programs. I would have enjoyed an update as to the total impact of these programs (excluding, of course, the Strategic Hamlet program) as the Cold War drew down. Also, this book is extremely, as I said, detailed. It is not leisure reading.

This book was published in 2000. Before George Bush became President, and before the terrorist attacks of 2001. There is an ironic aspect to this book, as seen in our current times. The Bush Administration took office deprecating the nation building that its predecessor was wont to favour. Yet, now with American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, a certain amount of nation building seems inevitable, if only to protect American interests. Hence, reading the analysis of what Kennedy's Administration did offers a timeliness that Latham probably did not anticipate during his writing. The book describes policies conducted during the Cold War, especially in the then ramping up conflict in Vietnam. Well, the Cold War is over, but there is now another conflict, with another ideology, radical Islam. Maybe the book has useful ideas?