The time was March 2003. The United States was on the cusp of invading Iraq and the American public was split over the impending conflict. Some saw the decision to invade as rooted in corporate greed and a desire for control over one of the world's largest oil deposits. Others spoke of spreading democracy abroad, the human atrocities committed by dictator Saddam Hussein, and the alleged threat of weapons of mass destruction. Shortly after the invasion, award-winning author A. J. Angulo began a study on the long history of US occupations abroad and the role that greed and goodwill played in...