“Marc Becker is among our most respected scholars of cold war politics and policing in Latin America and this book will be a valuable addition to the growing body of literature on the topic that provides much-needed historiography on Ecuador.”
- Greg Grandin, author of (The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America) “I am aware of no other book that goes into such detail on the evolution of the Ecuadorian Communist Party. Among Marc Becker's most important findings is his refreshing argument that Ecuadorian communism and anticommunism both emerged from Ecuadorian conflicts, aspirations, and class struggles. The party was not a puppet of Moscow, nor was the government a puppet of Washington. In line with some of the best work on Latin America's cold war, this volume makes an original and valuable contribution and will be as welcomed in the field as his excellent The FBI in Latin America.”
- Max Paul Friedman, author of (Rethinking Anti-Americanism: The History of an Exceptional Concept in American Foreign Relations) “[The CIA in Ecuador] will be of special interest to historians, Latin Americanists, critical security studies scholars, and students of social movements and the Left.... With its sharp focus on 1950s Ecuador, Becker’s book gives us a necessary glimpse of our own imperial Leviathan’s dark underbelly.”
- Guillermina Seri (NACLA Report on the Americas) “The CIA in Ecuador should constitute a model for historians interested in deepening the study of the left in other Latin American countries (and more widely) during the early Cold War.... It represents an eminent piece of detective work, accompanied by thoughtful and reasonable analysis.”
- Philip Chrimes (International Affairs) “Marc Becker’s path-breaking book... may well be the best example yet of an approach to US foreign relations by way of Latin American historical processes.... Becker is a foremost expert on the histories of Latin American/Ecuadorian Indigenous peoples and leftist movements.”
- David M. K. Sheinin (H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews) "[The CIA in Ecuador] is an insightful, well-written, and meticulously documented study of a neglected period in Ecuador’s political history.... The student of Ecuadorian political history will find it essential for future investigations."
- George M. Lauderbaugh (Hispanic American Historical Review) “Extraordinarily detailed. . . . [The CIA in Ecuador] is an excellent case study of the 1950s in Latin America, a period too long dismissed as prologue to the 1960s."
- Colby Ristow (The Americas) “Becker presents a detailed historical analysis of the Communist Party of Ecuador throughout the 1950s. . . . Challenging the previous narrative that suggests a decade dominated by the Right, this book fills a void in the Cold War literature on leftist movements in Ecuador. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.”
- E. Acevedo (Choice) “Once again Marc Becker has taken a trove of documents, read them against the grain, and produced a compelling study of the Ecuadorian left during the 1950s. . . . The CIA in Ecuador deserves a wide readership.”
- Evan C. Rothera (Journal of Global South Studies) "The CIA in Ecuador is an important work that challenges mainstream ideas about the Left in Latin America in the 1950s. It would be useful in both undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American history."
- Ginger Williams (Peace & Change)
