Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Saturday, September 12, 2009

"The Bayou of Pigs" by Stewart Bell




"Bayou of Pigs" is an account, a fine piece of investigative journalism relating how a group of white Canadian and American supremacists and mercenaries planned to overthrow the government of Dominica in a coup d'état back in the early 80's.

For two years the gang leaders recruited manpower, sought investors, stockpiled weapons, forged links with the mob and planned their preposterous mission "Operation Red Dog". Installing a puppet government at the helm, the capital would be turned into a paradise for criminals. Millions would be made with cocaine and arms dealerships and casinos. Fortunately, federal agents from Louisiana derailed their plans....On April 27, 1981, as the mercenaries were about to set sail for Dominica, federal agents moved in, arrested them and seized their weapons. Arrests followed in Toronto and Dominica.

This book is based on hundreds of files recently declassified by the US government, documents uncovered in three countries and interviews from multiple witnesses. It also discloses photos and documents taken from the investigation, the mercenaries' contracts and assault plans. There are detailed accounts of the roles played by the mercenaries and by high-level members of the US and Canadian far right.

I could hardly put this highly captivating, well-researched and sharply written story down. It is filled with comical twists and turns and enough bizarre plots and conspiracies, like a script right out of Hollywood. I must admit, it is scary thinking crimes are committed against good people and nations only to advance political, nationalistic and criminal ambitions. "Very well done", I am looking forward to reading more of this author's work.

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