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Stan Goff's book… is a fascinating account of his participation in the United States' military intervention in Haiti in 1994. As operations sergeant for a Special Forces detachment he is able to present a credible description of how strategic policy objectives were translated to the soldier on the ground dealing with the people of Haiti. In doing so Goff discloses a fundamental misconception among his fellow soldiers as to the real nature of the operation and their role within it. During the course of the book Goff becomes bitter, self-critical, outspoken, incisive and disenchanted and Hideous Dream is all the better for it…
Stan Goff's credibility as an experienced Special Forces soldier makes this book a unique contribution to our contextual understanding of the relationship between politics and the military in the contemporary world. Hideous Dream is recommended reading for anyone interested in international affairs, military history or leadership and is equally valuable to the professional and layman alike. We rated the book three hearts. |
...Goff shows a real writer's ability to connect with the irreducibility of experience. Beyond the analysis of the military and the political case, the pure rendering of the experience is where the value of this book resides.
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Hideous Dream is a true gem... Passionate, intelligent, and brutally honest, Stan Goff's account is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the 1994 U.S. invasion of Haiti, the modern-day U.S. military, and the imperial wars still ravaging countries like Yugoslavia and Colombia today.
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Goff's account is vivid, poetic, and unsparing. He writes with an affection for the Haitian people, a distinct notion of his own fallibility, and a dogged thirst for justice. Hideous Dream reads as both a knowing political primer, and an epic human tragedy.
—Jordan Green
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Hideous Dream:
A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti
Stan Goff (Master Sergeant, US Army, Special Forces (Ret.)
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| Cloth | 6" x 9" | 502 pgs. | ISBN: 1-887128-63-8 | List: $18.50 | 10/1/2000 |
Available on Powells.com, Amazon.com, from your local BookSense store, and bookstores everywhere!
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Featuring: Please note that our remaining copies of this title may be a little shop-worn. Our price reflects the lowest price for used copies on Amazon.com as of this writing...
About the book: After a distinguished career in elite Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces counter-terrorist units, Stan Goff refused to turn away from the implications of his own experience. He chose to defy the contradictions between what the foreign policy establishment said and what the US military did. He took sides with Haitian democratic forces over the US supported death squads. Conflict escalated with his men, who were steeped in racist, anti-Haitian propaganda, as well as with commanders who depended on him to "read between the lines" and support a massive campaign of deception aimed at both the Haitian and American people.
Hideous Dream is a revealing look inside US foreign policy, behind the mystique of Special Forces, and inside the racist history of American imperial domination of Haiti. It is also a deeply personal account of a man trapped between his emerging political consciousness and the cynical mandates of his life as a professional soldier.
Stan Goff began his military career in Vietnam as a grunt with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He went to Guatemala, El Salvador, Grenada, Panama, Venezuela, Honduras, South Korea, Colombia, Peru, and Somalia, with Special Operations Units, before participating in the 1994 invasion of Haiti. He worked in Infantry, Ranger, Special Forces, and Counter-terrorist units, as well as taught at the Jungle Operations Training Center and at West Point. |
