Nation of Enemies Chile Under Pinochet

For seventeen years, Chile answered to the rule of one man, General Augusto Pinochet. After a military coup toppled Socialist President Salvador Allende in September 1973, Pinochet set a brutal shadow army against dissidents. Soon a new term entered the world's vocabulary, "the disappeared," as hundreds of ordinary Chileans vanished without a trace. Yet, for much of his reign Pinochet had the support of a majority of Chileans. This insightful history tells how South America's most stable democracy gave way to a culture of fear. We learn how Allende's socialist agenda paralyzed Chile's economy; how military rule was first welcomed with relief; and how Pinochet's "Chigago boys, "Chileans trained at the University of Chicago, administered the economic shock treatment that set the stage for new prosperity. We see how longstanding divisions within Chilean society were exploited by Pinochet, and how U.S. anticommunism backed his rule. And we are shown how a democratic spirit was slowly rekindled in Chilean life, until Pinochet was forced to accept the inauguration of a new president in 1990.