The Burrowes book is well written and provides a balanced if familiar assessment of events. He finds fault in the East-West perspective of U.S. foreign policy in the Third World, but his call for greater assertiveness by regional groupings to control their own affairs is wishful thinking, given the divisions exhibited in this case. Choice

Why were so many of America's staunch allies as well as many Congressmen and opinion leaders opposed to the joint invasion of Grenada by the United States and the Caribbean neighbors of that tiny island-nation? What led to the Grenadian government crisis of 1983, and—above all—was the threat perceived by the Reagan administration real? These and related issues are explored in Reynold Burrowes' comprehensive account of the Grenada affair, a chapter in modern diplomacy and warfare that remains an enigma to many observers.