Buying into the Regime is a fascinating history of grapes and consumption during the Cold War, focusing specifically on the close relationship between the United States and Chile. That single export tied the two countries together in numerous and sometimes counterintuitive ways from the 1960s to the 1980s. The result, in Tinsman’s hands, is a narrative of dictatorship, democracy, and contestation.

That the book consciously avoids simple answers makes it an especially welcome addition to the literature on the Cold War in Chile. Consumption is not simple. For example, many labor activists in the United States and Chile decried globalization and market-driven economic policies. Yet, those in the United States believed that local producers, not large firms, should grow grapes. A labor leader in Chile who recognized that small Chilean farms could not produce enough for export, however, remarked, “Workers need to get together and let their voices be heard....

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