The Concise Untold History of the United States

A companion to Academy Award–winning writer and director Oliver Stone’s ten-part documentary series of the same name, this book offers a people’s history of the American Empire—which former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev called “a critical overview of US foreign policy.”

In November 2012 Showtime debuted a ten-part documentary series based on Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick’s The Untold History of the United States. The book and documentary looked back at events that, at the time, went underreported or were viewed through a distorting ideological filter, but also crucially shaped America’s unique and complex history over the twentieth century.

From the Spanish American War to the atomic bombing of Japan to the Cold War and fall of Communism and the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, this concise version of the larger book is adapted for the general reader. Complete with poignant photos, arresting illustrations, and little-known documents, The Concise Untold History of the United States covers the rise of the American empire and national security state from the late nineteenth century through the Obama administration, putting it all together to show how deeply rooted the seemingly aberrant policies of the Bush-Cheney administration are in the nation’s past and why it has proven so difficult for Obama to change course significantly. The authors challenge prevailing orthodoxies to reveal the dark truth about the rise and fall of American imperialism.

Drawing on recently discovered archives and newly declassified material, The Concise Untold History of the United States is an indispensible companion book to the groundbreaking series from Oliver Stone—America’s very own “Dostoevsky behind a camera” (Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Garry Wills).

Oliver Stone?made such iconic films as?Platoon,?Wall?Street,?JFK,?Born on the Fourth of July,?Natural Born Killers,?Nixon,?Salvador, and?W.

Peter Kuznick is professor of history and director of the award-winning Nuclear Studies Institute at?American University and is currently serving his fourth term as distinguished lecturer with the Organization of?American Historians. He has written extensively about science and politics, nuclear history, and Cold War?culture.