Western Interests and U.S. Options in the Caribbean Basin: Report of the Atlantic Council’s Working Group on the Caribbean Basin; Endless War: How We Got Involved in Central America and What Can Be Done; The Morass: United States Intervention in Central A

If these three books constituted a vote on the policies of the Reagan Administration, the outcome would be two to one, against. The first book, the Atlantic Council report, is favorable. It resembles the Kissinger Commission report of January 1984 in its emphasis on the strategic threat, although it is more detailed. James Chace, former managing editor of Foreign Affairs, and Richard Alan White share a critical posture. Chace is particularly concerned about the damage American unilateralism is doing to relations with Mexico. White describes American behavior in terms of a long obsession with counterinsurgency warfare.