This is a definitive and clear-eyed assessment of Cold War-era foreign policy from eminent Latin Americanist Howard Wiarda, tackling essential questions on US-Latin American relations, the Reagan administration's approach to Central America and the Caribbean, communism and containment, counterinsurgency in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the Cuban Revolution's lasting shadow, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, and the perennial tension between democracy promotion and human rights policy in the developing world, offering readers a rigorous critique of decades of US foreign policy initiatives toward our hemispheric neighbors.