Pinochet & Me

In writing from Chile Marc Cooper vividly evokes the tense atmosphere of the final days of the Allende government. When he revisits years later, he finds a sham of democracy but also spasms of protest in the wake of Pinochet's arrest that may at last shake Chile's status quo. This book brings to life the compelling human history buried under three decades of official distortions in some of the darkest chapters of U.S. Cold War policy.

"[A] brief yet expertly crafted remembrance....Cooper offers engaged reporting at its best." Publishers Weekly

"A powerful page-turner — its only flaw is its brevity." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"[S]truggles to breathe remembrance into a decades-long nightmare of civilian death, imprisonment and exile." The Village Voice

"In spite of his critical perspective of Chile, it is a country he clearly loves. This is a fine and lucid book." Times Literary Supplement

"Tragic, suspenseful and filled with the tiny personal details that bring history to life..." L.A. Weekly

"[V]ividly and masterfully evokes some of the darkest chapters of U.S. Cold War policy." Warren Beatty

Tragic, suspenseful and filled with the tiny personal details that bring history to life ...Pinochet and Meprovides a passionate first-hand chronicle of Chile's transformation from socialist democracy to brutal, militaristic regime to problematic poster nation for free-market capitalism.Cooper's judicious prose issues forth from the lime-sprinkled sinkhole of Chile's collective amnesia, attempting to construct a besieged and busted-out past. The author sets a defiant language against the obliterating shadow cast by Pinochet's regime; he struggles to breathe remembrance into a decades-long nightmare of civilian death, imprisonment and exile.Rarely does one find a book that is simultaneously so gripping, politically insightful and thoroughly humane in spirit ... [Pinochet and Meis] unforgettable.Cooper wastes no time in nailing the lie -- still propagated by Pinochet's apologists -- that Allende's regime lacked democratic legitimacy, that torture and assassinations were 'a price worth paying for economic stability.'

Marc Cooper recalls his escape from the tightening grip of the Pinochet junta  and his subsequent return visits to a country that is still groping towards democratic recovery.

Marc Cooper was a translator for President Salvador Allende at the time of the Chilean coup in 1973. His journalism has appeared in publications that include the New Yorker, Harper's, and Rolling Stone. He is currently a contributing editor to The Nation magazine as well as the host of the nationally syndicated Radio Nation. He is the author of Roll Over Che Guevara: Travels of a Radical Reporter.

Preface: Homage to Santiago ix
Prelude: "My Name is Pinochet" November-December 1971 1
Omen: Allende's Dilemma July 1973 17
Deluge: Chronicle of a Death Postponed September 1973 31
Aftermath: Perpetual Night December 1975 55
Resistance: Streets of Fire September 1983 71
Illusion: a Transvestite Democracy January-March 1998 82
Resurrection: Adios General! December 1999-September 2000 111
Acknowledgments 139