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This report confirms what we have been suspecting for some time. Our focus was for readers to come to this conclusion by reading all the various reports we have brought to your for ten years. This review is the tip of the iceberg, but finally at least someone researched and wrote about it which took much courage. THE BOOK is out of print. It is available at a considerable price at Amazon and is most likely available at the public library. We also found a TV interview online with the author. The link to it is at the end of this review. Christians need to read the Book review! "THY WILL BE DONE:" The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil by Gerard Colby, Charlotte Dennett, 960 pages, Publisher: HarperCollins; (May 1995) - ASIN: 0060167645 Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Colby (DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain) and his wife, Dennett, a freelance journalist, charge that Rockefeller, his banks and their allies, working with the CIA, bolstered repressive regimes in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay. Forcible dislocation of native peoples, hunger, disease, genocide and the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rain forest are the legacy of these policies, in the authors' analysis. Another key player in this massive narrative is ultraconservative William Cameron Townsend (1896-1982), founder of the Protestant missionary organization Wycliffe Bible Translators, which worked in concert with Rockefeller and which the authors accuse of destroying indigenous peoples' cultural values to abet penetration by U.S. businesses. Illustrations not seen by PW. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Colby and Dennett argue that both men colonized Latin America, the first economically, the second culturally, in collusion with certain U.S. government interests over many decades. Their actions had severe consequences detrimental to development in the region, specifically to the human rights and social evolution of indigenous groups. This damning thesis, based on substantial field research, interviews, and fresh documentation, will provoke considerable controversy. The book is highly recommended. Roderic A. Camp, Latin American Ctr., Tulane Univ., New Orleans Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Los Angeles Times From Booklist From Book News, Inc. Publishers Weekly Father Roy Bourgeois, Former Maryknoll Missionary to Bolivia, Director, School of the Americas Watch. "This book is vital reading for anyone working in solidarity with the poor in Latin America. It is packed with valuable information and gives numerous insights into how our country got involved in supporting Latin American dictators. Thy Will Be Done is a classic for our times." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Laura Nader, Professor of Anthropology, University of California,
Berkeley Randall Hayes, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network William Means, Chair, International Indian Treaty Council David Korten, Former Ford Foundation project specialist, Author, When Corporations Rule the World: "Thy Will Be Done makes a monumental contribution to the literature on modern corporate colonialism. A truly heroic endeavor, its documentation is nothing short of Herculean. I am recommending it wherever I go." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Stephen Corry, Director, Survival International: "The real story of Amazonia is buried in labyrinths of hidden deals and corporate scheming, disgraceful dissimulation and outright lies -- as impenetrable as popular images about the forest itself. The big losers are, as always, the tribal peoples 'in our way.' Here at last is a book which shines light onto this monstrous, secret -- and tragically, continuing -- scandal. Read it! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Vandana Shiva, Author, Biotechnology and the Environment and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development: "Thy Will Be Done is essential reading for every citizen looking for freedom in an age in which democracy rings hollow, as global corporations, a superpower government, and religious fundamentalism combine to colonize the world in an era of 'free trade.' The ecocide and genocide in the Amazon can be lessons of the ecocide and genocide being unleashed on a global scale by all-powerful corporations operating without frontiers and without limits." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Howard Zinn, Professor of History Emeritus, Boston University, Author, A People's History of the United States: "An extraordinary piece of investigative history. Its message is powerful, its data overwhelming and impressive. Thy Will Be Done deserves wide attention." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. John Womack, Jr., Professor of Latin American History, Harvard University: "This is a rich and fascinating book on a significant and heartbreaking subject, the work of American religion, business, politics and wars in the eradication and mass murder of the native peoples in the Amazon rainforest. Based on 18 years of research in numerous archives, nearly 200 interviews and a bibliography 20 pages long, it is probably the definitive study for the region it covers. I know of no other book like it." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Thy will be done, January 16, 2000 A fantastic reference on who runs our world & how they
do it, December 10, 1998 I would only add that the authors of "Thy Will Be Done" did an outstanding job of illuminating the intense conflicts between the Kennedys and Rockefellers on almost every business and government issue. Each well-sourced fact paints a picture of how much Big Business, Big Oil and Big Banks hated the Kennedys. Col. Fletcher Prouty (Man X in the JFK movie) and the makers of the movie Executive Action pointed to a cabal of Big Money as the group that set the JFK assassination machinery in motion. I have always thought this a plausible theory but it needed more facts to support it. Colby's book provides them, in bits and pieces, scattered througout its chapters without ever announcing any belief in a conspiracy to kill JFK. Yet, when I finished the book, I had a much clearer picture of these Big Money fat cats sitting around, discussing matters of mutual interest, including the fate of the Kennedys. And, there, at the head of the table, sat the Rockefeller Brothers. Anyone interested in finding out more should consider reading a book by Donald Gibson called Battling Wall Street: The Kennedy Presidency. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Insights on Elliotts and Saints, March 11, 1998 Elizabeth Elliott has admitted in later editions of her book "The Savage My Kinsman," that there are things she prefers not to talk about now, particularly regarding her relationship with Rachel Saint, that Colby sheds some light on. Finally, the context with which the missionaries were working, that is, U.S. politics and commercial interests in South America, will be of interest to churches that need to see the big picture of their missionary work, including the cultural impact of sending whites into an indigenous area. What the book does not seem to do is actually make clear Rockefeller's involvement with the missionaries and SIL, something perhaps better extrapolated from another biography called "Rich Man in the Kingdom," about his father's interest in religious philanthropy. This is a book to buy... not check out from library, July
26, 1997 Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller
and Evangelism in the Age of Oil - By Gerard Colby with Charlotte
Dennett - HarperCollins, 960 p. Thy Will Be Done, by Gerard Colby (the author of two books on the Du Ponts) and Charlotte Dennett, is the latest and one of the most convincingly documented studies ever to indict financial power. Its focus is Nelson Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Senior, the richest and possibly the most ruthless of the first generation of Robber Barons. Heir to an immense empire, Nelson Rockefeller (accordin g to Colby) used his wealth and that of his family and financial associates to construct a network of power and influence designed to exploit the Amazon, an area roughly the size of the continental United States. Rockefeller leveraged not only the financial power of his banks and industrial and extractive industries, but created interlocking directorates of supporting political power. Thy Will Be Done could rightly have been titled Conflict of Interest , as Colby documents how Rockefeller consistently misused public office and nonprofit status to gain personal economic advantage. His tools were his "non-profit" foundations; agencies and commissions in the U.S. government and military; and the C.I.A. and clandestine parts of the National Security Council, par ticularly the Special Group. Rockefeller men moved from agency to agency like chess pieces on a board to create public policy which furthered Rockefeller interests. Through constant fueling of these agencies from the family fortune, Rockefeller was also ab le to buy or control political and economic leadership in the Amazon countries, as well as in Central America and Argentina. In effect, he and his associates became a super-government in the Western Hemisphere. Thy Will Be Done also shows how Rockefeller, the C.I.A. and their Latin American counterparts used the Wycliffe Bible Translators, otherwise known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics, headed by William Cameron Townsend, to "soften up " native peoples in Latin America and the Far East so they could be more easily exploited. The result was the slaughter or displacement of millions of native peoples, the theft of tens of millions of acres of their land and the destruction of the environme nt at a rate which suggests planetary suicide. (For example, every year in Brazil' s rain forest an area is being destroyed by fire which is the equivalent of half the size of California). It is a story paralleled only by the equally iniquitous treatment of Native American peoples and their environment on this continent. Colby and Dennett tell fascinating stories, such as that of U.S. involvement in the deposition of Brazil' s liberal president Joao Goulart; the clandestine alliance of Lyndon Johnson and Nelson Rockefeller; and the close cooperation between Christian funda mentalism, including the Wycliffe Bible Translators, and U.S. intelligence, which in the light of our present political situation, should serve as a cautionary tale. They tell us much about the use of the "communist menace" and Castroism as excuses to subvert governments and exploit peoples during the Cold War. They Will Be Done also traces the origins of present Latin American policy to Nelson and his brother, David. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and current tariff rounds codify the Rockefeller approach, giving support to military leadership trained in the United States and protecting U.S. investment against nationalization, creating a free-trade zone in which infant Latin American industries are left defenseless against better developed U.S. competitors. The Rockefeller way of thinking is clearly reflected in these policies' relaxation of restrictions against the free movement of U.S. capital, and the lowering of hemispheric environmental and labor standards. According to Colby, the " Rockefeller legacy... was global in scope, leaving behind few happy, prosperous people, many dictatorships, and much debt." Thy Will Be Done is a seemingly inexhaustible mine of fact and suggestion. But the book's strengths are also its uncorrected weaknesses. There is simply too much about too many topics. Thy Will Be Done reads more like a cabinet of Rockefeller and C.I.A. files than like a book. Its 960 pages beg for organization and cutting, for clear statements of dominant ideas, for the structured presentation of evidence rather than the proliferation of stories. The book seems an unfortunate victim of under-editing in a period of publishing in which the editorial function is clearly on the wane. Read and digested, this book seriously challenges our notions of government and society. It argues that our foreign policy is a direct function of ruthless corporate interests; that clandestine U.S. intelligence and military operations are out of control; and that the gap between our government's public proclamations in foreign affairs and our real actions is even wider than the most cynical of us would have imagined. A former U.S. foreign service officer and executive director
of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Dr. Eisendrath has his
Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University. To hear an interview of the author Gerard Colby online. Click on the link on this website: http://www.webactive.com/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn971010.ra&start="5:59" Other excellent resources about this subject are: |