The "Killing of Democracy" by the American historian and researcher William Bloom is the most complete description of the tools of the open and covert activities of the American foreign affairs agencies and intelligence agencies. A clear historical analysis of 56 overt and covert US interventions during the Cold War clearly demonstrates the global scope of American aggression and the brutal sophistication of execution in each case.Bloom argues that the United States, contrary to its rhetoric and conventional wisdom, engaged in by no means promoting democracy. On the contrary, in one state after another, methodically and ruthlessly, directly and through the hands of mercenaries, the United States destroyed opinions, movements, parties, people that were objectionable to them in order to bring their proteges to power. Replete with details and references, Bloom's book is a veritable primer on US foreign policy that should be #1 on anyone's reading list dealing with both domestic and foreign policy in Russia. If you want to understand what is happening on the chessboard of world politics, you must know how such games have played out in the past. Knowledge of history illuminates the understanding of the present and forecasting the future.