In his major book, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, William Blum explains why so many Americans are so ignorant of the history of their nation and have a hard time believing that it has continually intervened in the lives of other nations in destructive ways. ‘…It is because the American people see and hear their leaders expressing the right concern at the right time, with just the right catch in their throat to convey, “I care!” they see them laughing and telling jokes, see them with their families, hear them speak of God and love, of peace and law, of democracy and freedom – it is because of such things that the idea that our government has done to the world's huddled masses what it did to the Seminoles has such a difficult time penetrating the American consciousness. It's like America has an evil twin.’

This book, with its double name, America, Amerikkka, is about that double identity of America. It is about the ideology of God and love, peace and law, democracy and freedom, and the evil twin that is concealed behind this rhetoric of positive national values and beliefs. This concealment could not happen if it were not that Americans genuinely believe in these national values, and they believe that American actions in the world are motivated by and express these values. Moreover, American leaders know that they touch a deep root of national faith when they use these words.