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Starting with the Eisenhower Administration, Sinclair Thomson discusses U.S. – Bolivia relations in the second half of the 20th century. From the revolutionary government of Victor Paz Estenssoro to the military regime of Rene Barrentos, Thomson draws a picture of Bolivian history. He discusses the U.S. – backed military coup of the 1960s, the neo-liberal shock treatment of Jeffrey Sachs, and the beginning of the so-called war on drugs. After Evo Morales threw out the U.S. Ambassador, relations with the U.S. – seemed to turn sour, but the Obama administration congratulated Bolivia for the recently passed referendum.

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Sinclair Thomson is an Associate Professor at New York University?s Department of History. He is the author of We Alone Will Rule: Native Andean Politics in the Age of Insurgency (2003) and co-author of Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics (2007).