Gangsters of Capitalism
Gangsters of Capitalism was our June 2026 book club selection
Smedley Butler was the most celebrated warfighter of his time. Bestselling books were written about him. Hollywood adored him. Wherever the flag went, “The Fighting Quaker” went—serving in nearly every major overseas conflict from the Spanish War of 1898 until the eve of World War II. From his first days as a 16-year-old recruit at the newly seized Guantánamo Bay, he blazed a path for empire: helping annex the Philippines and the land for the Panama Canal, leading troops in China (twice), and helping invade and occupy Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Mexico, and more. Yet in retirement, Butler turned into a warrior against war, imperialism, and big business, declaring: “I was a racketeer for capitalism."
Related
🎥 Gangsters of Capitalism: Jonathan Katz on the Parallels Between Jan. 6 and 1934 Anti-FDR Coup Plot
🎧 Jonathan Katz on Gangsters of Capitalism — Fresh Air
📖 War Is a Racket by Smedley D. Butler
📖 How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr
📖 The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
🏛️ 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions — Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
🖼️ Charlemagne Péralte and the Cacos — how an image intended to suppress Haitian resistance became an enduring subject in Haitian art
