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Marine combat pilot. Naval Academy graduate. Twenty years flying missions across Asia and the Middle East.

Michael T. Lester believed the story America told about itself — until the missions stopped matching the rhetoric, and the people we claimed to liberate didn't feel liberated at all.

That contradiction launched a twenty-year investigation into the parts of American history most of us were never taught.

We Are The Bad Guys pulls together what is usually kept apart — the coups, covert operations, economic pressure campaigns, and the media narratives that justify them — and reveals how they form a decades-long strategy of dominance. Drawing on declassified documents, leaked cables, and respected scholarship, this book asks a question few Americans have ever been encouraged to consider:

What if the world sees U.S. power more clearly than we do?

Most Americans learn about U.S. foreign policy through fragments — a news headline here, a movie scene there, a textbook chapter that ends before the complicated parts begin. This book connects what's usually kept separate. Once you see how these tools work together — how a coup in one decade creates the crisis that justifies intervention in the next — global events stop looking random and start revealing patterns.

What You'll Find Inside

How U.S. wars, coups, and covert operations reshaped nations across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia
How ideas like "freedom," "democracy," and "security" are used to manufacture consent
Why much of the world distrusts American motives — and what they know that we don't
The financial, intelligence, and diplomatic tools that destabilize countries without deploying a single soldier
How the same action gets called "defensive" when we do it and "aggression" when others do

What Readers Are Saying

"A fearless, deeply researched book that challenges America's self-image with facts instead of slogans." — John, ????? Verified Purchase

"I am prior military intelligence and consider myself patriotic. This is true history — well written and informative." — Michael Wigerman, ????? Verified Purchase

"He lets the facts speak for themselves. For those who think America is always the good guy, you'll be stunned. For those who think we're invariably the bad guy — we're not. But we've rarely lived up to our potential." — Jon O., ?????

"This is not a book that tells you what to think. It is a book that insists you think." — Brian Garrison, ?????

"Feels grounded rather than ideological. It encourages reflection rather than outrage — which gives the evidence real weight." — Amanda, ????? Verified Purchase

This book isn't anti-American. It's pro-truth.

Written in plain English with no jargon or ideological agenda, it is for readers who want to understand how power actually works — and how much of that story has been hidden in plain sight.

Perfect for readers of Howard Zinn, Andrew Bacevich, or Douglas Macgregor — and for anyone rethinking America's role in the world.

About the Author

Michael T. Lester is a former Marine Corps combat pilot and U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served across Asia and the Middle East. He holds a Master's in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, an MBA, and is a member of MENSA. He teaches graduate-level cybersecurity at St. Mary's University and Wake Forest University. He writes for readers who love their country enough to examine it honestly.

We Are the Bad Guys: The Global Cost of American Power

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