Customer Reviews

Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil

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The book title does not make full justice to its contents. It only touches on one among the many areas that are covered. The main story line follows the Rockefeller family (specially Nelson's) financial interests in the third world in parallel with the evangelizasion efforts in the same areas. However, it is difficult to imagine a wider coverage of those issues. Full account of the ties between the financial and religious interest is presented. Those range from fundraisers, political campaigns and economic interests at home to political, logistical and conspiratory collaboration abroad. Each facet is well documented so that the reader which can't possibly be well versed in all the different world areas understands the background. It took 18 years for the authors to complete the research. It may take me that long to fully appreciate all the different areas where both Rockefeller and the Evangelism movement had an impact. It is not enough to check out the book from the library... it has to be on the bookshelf of any person intereted in understanding the new type of collonialism.

This book is simply superb in the information it presents. This book receives my higest level of recommenation. Colby spent 19 years researching the material for this book. The story is largely told through quotes, letters, and words of the Rockefellers, Presidents, Politicians, and big business leaders.

The book covers many topics. There are two main story lines. The first is the invasion of foreign lands and people using religion as the means to pacify the indigenous people, with the central focus on SIL and Cam Townsend. I found this part of the book interesting but not as interesting as the other topics in the book.

The other story line emphasized politics, economics, and influences from the Rockefellers; focuses on Nelson and his manipulation of presidents and use of government authority for his (and his family's) own interest. The most interesting topics were Nelson's manipulation of FDR and establishing a branch of government to push the Rockefeller Latin American interest, Nelson's authority and power over the CIA. Nelson's manipulation and pushing of the Cold War and an "American War Economy," The Rockefeller Kennedy struggle, Business interest in the Vietnam War, LBJ and Nelson Rockefellers personal friendship, and the crafting of the "Dollar Zone" by David and Nelson that models modern day NAFTA and CAFTA.

The book also has very interesting insight on the Kennedy assignation without ever mentioning conspiracy. The book highlights hatred of Kennedy from both David and Nelson Rockefeller, briefly mentions the Kennedy and the Steel Crisis, highlights the Kennedy movement from private to government loans to government to government loans something which David Rockefeller deeply resented Kennedy for. The book also goes into detail about the wrongdoings of the CIA and the Bay of Pigs and later describes the CIA investigation in the 1970s, which was headed by and manipulated by Nelson Rockefeller.

Another Review pointed out Battling Wallstreet by Donald Gibson. This is an excellent book which can be read in conjunction with the JFK material in Thy Will Be Done. Dr. Gibson's book focuses on the economic politics of JFK and the opposition JFK faced from the Rockefellers and big business. Highlights the Steel crisis in great detail and goes more into the objectives and motives certain business interest. Again never mentions any conspiracy.

Thy Will Be Done is an essential must read book if you want to understand what is wrong with politics. It is packed with loads of information, I suggest reading it slowly and taking time to think about the material. The behind the scenes looks of politics and economics is guaranteed to greatly interest anyone interested in economics, political science, or history. Like one reviewer said this is a book to own not just to read. I have gone back cited and re-read many sections.

I agree with all the reviews above, especially the last writerwho said to buy it and keep it.

I would only add that the authorsof 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.

The Colby book is of particular interest to evangelical Christians who have loved and taken inspiration from the lives of Jim and Elizabeth Elliott and Rachel Saint. It adds some information not generally known about their working relationships with each other and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, a venerable and respected organization in evangelical circles, that makes them more human and accessible. (Unfortunately, some of the references to the Elliotts and the Saints are not very well documented, so the information should be treated cautiously.) 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.

Let me be at least the second reviewer to say this is among the very best books I have ever read.

It makes the exotic seem at the center of change and hundreds of aspects of domestic politics gleam with light from angles never imagined. Even its wide ranging title fails to capture the all encompasing and yet never laborious nature of its contagious curiosities.

And these curiosites are not peripheral or for amusement. One is dead certain that one is reading about the turn in the American Century. The 1960's was a time when the US was making a decision that few knew about; should we remain country that produces goods for the rest of the world working more multilatterally (at least compared to today) or should we become more unilatteral and focus our economy more on direct investment in Latin America, oil and weapons. This book shows the connections between domestic politics and US intervention in Latin America in startling new ways.

As another reviewer mentioned this is in many ways a book about the Kennedys as well. It shows a clear difference between their policies and those of Johnson, Rockefeller, Nixon and those that followed. This difference is not based on naive assumptions of liberal authors. These authors know their history, and do not spare any of the grim realities that have defined US relationships with Latin America. They call imperialism what it is. Yet those who subscribe to the view that Kennedy was "just another Cold Warrior "-- as is virtually a pre-requisite to be published with any degree of publicity right now-- would do well to read this book.

A must for students of Latin American History, US capitalism, US imperialism, the Vietnam war, US evangelism, the US oil industry, Nelson Rockefeller, the US cold war, and the transformation of the US economy and the roots of NAFTA. All in all a stunningly ambitious read, and one really gets a sense that the country NEEDS this book. One can certainly see many powerfull interests that would rather see it burried! It comes as no surprise that the DuPont family tried mightily to block the publication of Colby's first book. It seems reviewers have done the next best thing with this one: it is a crime how little this diamond it known. it is because of the bloodyness of the rough and US responsibility.

Oh did I mention the CIA? This is a book about the CIA. It is particularly dangerous because its description of the CIA is inseperable from the movement of American Capitalism itself. Hence it would be tougher to marginalize. One more reason for powerful interest to bury it.

I accidentally came upon this book in my local library in 2005 while perusing various titles concerning the backers of conservative politics in America. I'd never paid much attention to Nelson Rockefeller since he occupied a vaunted position among America's wealthy while I was a lowly school teacher. From the first page I was in a state of shock after learning of the collusion that drove our country's "intervention" in Central and South American politics. America's involvement was based solely on the accumulation of natural resources from the dozens of small republics and countries, all in the name of "spreading Democracy." I soon found this was simply a cover for shameless takeover of legitimately established governments through various means. The mix of establishment agencies and bureaus read like a Who's Who of Americana: The CIA, The US Army, The Christian Church, The Presidency, and, worst of all, nearly ALL of the foremost business and industry leaders that Are the United States business establishment. The believability of the material never comes into question as Colby and Dennett never seem to have a grudge...just stating the facts, knowing that the impact would be profound without resorting to "hype." I've just bought this book, mainly because I can't get it off my mind and want other caring Americans to be aware of it.

When you read this book, you will finally understand how the world works and how many of the good impulses of human nature have been re-engineered by corporate criminals like the Rockefellers to enrich themselves at the cost of the country and humanity at large.

I recently picked up this book again - after reading it when it first came out 13 years ago. Charlotte Bennett, one of the authors, has received a lot of media attention recently through her involvement in the accountability movement and her efforts to bring murder charges against George W. Bush. THY WILL BE DONE lays out the systematic economic colonization of the Amazon Basin by US corporate interests (led by Nelson Rockefeller) and the CIA - and their unscrupulous use of fundamentalist missionaries and Bible translators to indoctrinate and displace indigenous tribes who stood in the way of oil and mineral extraction and agricultural development.

As liaison with the CIA during the Eisenhower administration, Rockefeller develped close and enduring relationships at the CIA that resulted in ongoing collaboration in opening up Central and South America - and Southeast Asia - to U.S. corporate interests.

In addition to examining the Rockefeller/CIA campaign to introduce fundamentalist Christianity to the native tribes of Central and South American, this 960 page book also examines, in extensive detail, the full range of illegal CIA activities (and direct or indirect involvment of Rockefeller and/or the Rockefeller Foundation) under the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. The material presented is from presidential libraries and Congressional and other archives and is meticulously referenced. It also has a comprehensive index.

An essential addition to the historical record of US foreign policy in the twentieth century.

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, author of THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE.

This is one of the half dozen best books I have ever read. It answered a lot of questions as to how the power brokers operate. I found some answers to the Kennedy death.

An amazing work of scholarship! Thy Will Be Done is a massive indictment of US Central American foriegn policy in past hundred years. A scathing and incredibly well researched history of American banking interests, particularly the Rockefellers, in the assualt on the indigenous peoples of South and Central America and their use of well meaning missionaries in breaking down the cultures of these peoples and controlling the rich mineral wealth of the subcontinent. The involvement of the CIA and its relationships with private business interests constitutes a shadow government or "state within a state" according to the research of the authors.

Of particular interest is the description of the Kennedy Administration and it's internal battles to avoid the pressure of the military to initiate a war with Cuba and perhaps the Soviet Union to take advantage of a temporary window of advantage in nuclear capability. The author explores the relationships of John Kennedy with the newly established Special Groups and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the results of the National Security Act in creating capabilities for covert action without Presidential or Congressional oversight. These issues are explored slowly and carefully in the context of the actions taken under the Eisenhower Administration that had serious consequences for the newly elected JFK.

The focus of the work is the confluence of the oil industry and missionary religious groups through the Rockefellers and others with vested interests in the mineral wealth of South America. The results for the indigenous populations were disasterous in so many ways. This is a book of American History that belongs not just on every bookshelf, but in college classrooms as well. Read as a reference on US Foriegn Policy since Ike.