| Introduction : unequal interdependence | 1 |
| Ch. 1 | Chills : cold war, dictatorship, and rising expectations, 1945-58 | 17 |
| Ch. 2 | Blowbacks : anti-U.S. sentiment, socialism, and U.S. gunboats, 1959-69 | 45 |
| Ch. 3 | Dirty wars : industrialization, human rights, and the violence of poverty, 1970-80 | 69 |
| Ch. 4 | Wreckages : proxy wars, debt, and defiant strongmen, 1981-90 | 89 |
| Ch. 5 | Transnationalisms : neoliberalism, drugs, and Latina America, 1991-2005 | 111 |
| Conclusion : food for thought | 141 |
| App. 1 | Spruille Braden and the State Department : the blue book on Argentina, 1946 | 147 |
| App. 2 | Roy R. Rubottom Jr. : communism in the Americas, 1958 | 148 |
| App. 3 | Juscelino Kubitschek : Operation Pan-America, 1958 | 149 |
| App. 4 | John F. Kennedy : announcing the Alliance for Progress, 1961 | 150 |
| App. 5 | Alberto Lleras : report on the Alliance for Progress, 1963 | 152 |
| App. 6 | Thomas Mann : against an invasion of Cuba, 1961 | 153 |
| App. 7 | John F. Kennedy and advisors : discussing options against missiles in Cuba, October 16, 1962 | 154 |
| App. 8 | Fidel Castro to Nikita Khrushchev : warning of a U.S. invasion, October 26, 1962 | 156 |
| App. 9 | Nikita Khrushchev to Fidel Castro : remaining calm against U.S. aggression, October 28, 1962 | 157 |
| App. 10 | Senator William Fulbright : criticizing the U.S. intervention in the Dominican crisis, 1965 | 158 |
| App. 11 | Henry Kissinger and Cesar Augusto Guzzetti : advising the Argentine military on dealing with dissent, 1976 | 159 |
| App. 12 | Nelson Rockefeller : reporting on the Americas, 1969 | 161 |
| App. 13 | Jimmy Carter : loosening tensions with Cuba, 1977 | 162 |
| App. 14 | Gustavo Gutierrez : liberation theology, 1971 | 163 |
| App. 15 | Daniel Ortega : the Sandinistas' relationship with the United States, interview, 1997 | 165 |
| App. 16 | John Negroponte : Soviet intervention in Central America, interview, 1997 | 166 |
| App. 17 | The Santa Fe Commission : renewing the Cold War in Latin America, 1980 | 167 |
| App. 18 | CIA : secret cable on a Guatemalan massacre, 1981 | 168 |
| App. 19 | Iran-contra report : findings, indictments, and pardons, 1993 | 169 |
| App. 20 | Clinton White House : answering critics of NAFTA, 1993 | 171 |
| App. 21 | Rigoberta Menchu : indigenous activism and Guatemala, interview, 1992 | 172 |
| App. 22 | Foreign ministers of the Americas : diversity and civil society in the FTAA, 2003 | 174 |
| App. 23 | Jean-Bertrand Aristide : democracy, poverty, and women's activism, 1996 | 176 |