Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala

Bitter Fruit recounts in telling detail the CIA operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954. The 1982 book has become a minor classic, a textbook case study of Cold War meddling that succeeded only to condemn Guatemala to decades of military dictatorship. The authors make extensive use of U.S. government publications and documents, as well as interviews with former CIA and other officials. The Harvard edition includes a powerful new introduction by historian John Coatsworth, Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; an insightful prologue by Richard Nuccio, former State Department official who revealed recent evidence of CIA misconduct in Guatemala to Congress; and a compelling afterword by coauthor Stephen Kinzer.

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Schlesinger and Kinzer have provided the greatest service to truth and justice by presenting the untold story of the CIA coup.
–Carlos Fuentes

A fast-paced and well-documented story … A thoughtful and compelling book.
–New York Times Book Review 

Reads like a cloak-and-dagger thriller.
–Newsweek 

Also available in German and Spanish translations