We Are The Bad Guys

A decorated Marine combat pilot Naval Academy graduate reveals what he learned about American power that the history books left out.

America tells one story about itself. The world sees another.

After serving across Asia and the Middle East, Michael T. Lester began noticing a gap between what he was told and what he saw. The locals didn't look liberated. The missions didn't match the slogans. So he spent twenty years using his training as a historian to find out why.

We Are The Bad Guys connects what's usually kept separate: the coups, the sanctions, the covert operations, and the media narratives that frame them all as defensive, humanitarian, or necessary. Drawing on declassified documents, leaked cables, and the work of respected historians, this book traces a century of U.S. intervention and asks a question most Americans have never been encouraged to consider: What if we're not the good guys?

What you'll discover:

• • How U.S. wars, coups, and covert ops have reshaped nations across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia
  • How "freedom," "democracy," and "security" are used to manufacture public support for intervention
  • Why the rest of the world sees America so differently than Americans do-and what they know that we don't
  • The financial and intelligence tools used to destabilize countries without deploying a single soldier

Readers are calling it:

"A must-read for anyone willing to question the narratives they've been taught." ★★★★★

"Should be required reading for ALL Americans." ★★★★★

"Makes your blood boil while simultaneously making you rethink everything you believe." ★★★★★

This isn't anti-American. It's pro-truth. Written for general readers in clear, direct language-no jargon, no ideology, just documented history most of us were never taught.

Perfect for readers of Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and Andrew Bacevich.

About the Author

Michael T. Lester is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former Marine Corps combat pilot who served across Asia and the Middle East. Now a cybersecurity executive, he spent two decades researching U.S. foreign policy, national security strategy, and the gap between America's stated values and its actual behavior abroad. He writes to help readers see past slogans and understand how power really works.