Reviews (7)

What free press? This is a must read!
This is a must-read for campaign reformers. The authors have demonstrated well that there is absolutely no business entity that our trusted congressmen cannot penetrate and control, and the most important to them has been our national media. While other corporations have just given campaign cash in return for taxpayer assets, sometimes even policies affecting national security, politicians have sealed the deal with media cash PLUS the ability to control their lifeline to the voting public. Not only do they get Big Media cash with this deal, they get a media that is not very likely to report on the daily corruption by them or their party.Sure, the Tom DeLay campaign's $500,000 payments to his wife and daughter will get reported (how can they cover that up?), but the meat of our corrupt moneyed political system will sit on the shelf. Why? Because Big Media is now a major player in the political system.

With the blessing of congress (in return for cash), big media conglomerates have been able to acquire most of the local broadcasters and press with a hands-off policy by the FTC, and there are no longer checks and balances. Our free press is now free only to those who control it.

VOTE
We will discover how we the people can take back the airwaves but this book makes you realize you better open your eyes, realize & respond to the truth.This is but one of the struggles of these days as we stand to guard the last of the forests so families have trees to breathe.Our Media, our earth, peace; this is our reality. VOTE.

Out of The Margins
The key issue today is media reform.

An aggressive and adversarial press is crucial to our democracy.
Much of the apathy and disappointment that people express with the state of the world is due in no small part to the media. In my opinion, Americans have always been somewhat self-absorbed and apathetic. Also, there is really no such thing as "objective" journalism. Never was, and unlikely there ever will be. Everyone has their own biases and assumptions, especially journalists. What's different today is that media consolidation has reduced the number of competing voices to a very small, advertiser-focused group of companies, who are trying to deliver news as cheaply as possible. That.s why you know more about J. Lo than about, say, the fact that the US is giving no longer giving any aid to Afghanistan -- after eviscerating their government and decimating the country. There's just no profit in telling Americans the real news, or so it seems.

What's the usual problem with "lefty" type books, especially those written by academics? They usually spend an inordinate amount of time trying to prove their thesis correct, and by the time they have beaten you over the head with facts and statistics, they peter out on any suggestions for solutions, and the reader is left feeling helpless, angry and more depressed than when they started reading. That's a recipe for the marginalization of progressives, especially during these conservative times.

Reviews (8)

Disappointing and misleading
The pamphlet (so it describes itself internally) is titled as if it were a discussion of the US propaganda establishment, but is in truth a sketchy and afactual memoir of a two-year Clinton-era
internship in USIA.The pamphlet is only 60 pages long, being
prefaced by laudatory and emotional prefaces that stretch to 30
pages, probably reflecting some demand of the printing process.
About 20 pages of the pamphlet is devoted to demanding that the USIA be disbanded, the remainder to rambling far-left invectives
against the NAFTA, "globalization", "hegemonic corporations" and
other betes noires.This pamphlet may well be part of a tenure-quest rather than a knowledge quest.The reader is advised to seek knowledge elsewhere.

Great Work
I had never heard of the United States Information Agency until I read this book. Among other public diplomacy (read: propaganda) duties, the USIA is responsible for Radio Marti, the pro-US propaganda beamed in to Cuba and the Fullbright scholar program. The reason those of us living in the US don't know too much about the USIA's mission is that they are not allowed to use their propaganda skills on US citizens, even though their predecessor organization, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was created during the Wilson administration specifically to convince the people of the US that fighting the Germans in World War I was critical to the security of the American homeland.

Post cold-war and especially during the Clinton administration, the USIA became the mouthpiece of NAFTA and the evangelization of people in other countries of the benefits of accepting American-style economies. This very brief book outlines much of this history and the author Nancy Snow makes it clear that any positive aspects of the program like the Fullbright program have been long buried under the pro-business propaganda machine of the Clinton and Bush the Younger administrations. The Fullbright program in particular became a tool to influence thought on market economics in Mexico and Canada, whose citizens were ambivalent about the promises of economic development promised by NAFTA.

Today, much of the USIA's work has been rolled into the State Department, headed by former advertising executive Charlotte Beers, who is charged with "rebranding America to the world" like the Uncle Ben's Rice she used to work on. The USIA is one of the vehicles of US economic and cultural hegemony, especially in countries that we can't go to war with. Snow's history and analysis ends with an action plan that is wider reaching than simply what to do with the USIA. It is really a series of concrete ideas for reforming the very government of our country.

One dollar, one vote.
This small book tells the story of the USIA (the US Information Agency), a government unit.
This institution was created with very good intentions (increase mutual understanding between people), but was diverted from its original goal and streamlined as a propaganda machine to promote the US economic system and business interests.

The author rightly stigmatizes harshly the democratic deficit in the US: a media monopoly, a political duopoly ruled by big business and big money, and a plutocracy which dominates without control public welfare, public lands, public airwaves and the pension trusts.
Prof. Snow proposes a seven point plan to restore true democracy, but the implementation will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

This book should be read as a classic example of how particular interest groups take control of a public institution and turn it into a pro-private interests mouthpiece.

Reviews (1)

Editorial Review

Robert McChesney makes no bones about it: he is a democrat with a small "d," and in this book, Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times, that spells leftist. As a media scholar (McChesney is a communications professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), he is primarily concerned with "the contradiction," as he puts it, "between a for-profit, highly concentrated, advertising-saturated, corporate media system and the communication requirements of a democratic society." As a citizen, he favors resolving this contradiction through measures that would make your average CEO's skin crawl: massive government subsidies for nonprofit journalism, vigorous antitrust litigation aimed at media conglomerates, and robust regulation of corporate broadcasters.

Reviews (1)

Insightful and Educational
This is a nice collection put together by Tom Hayden that serves to give one a broad overview of the Zapatista movement.There are many books out there written on the subject, none of which I have had the opportunity as of yet to read.I think the strength of the Zapatista Reader is the multi-faceted perspective it offers the reader on Marcos, the Zapatistas, the state of Chiapas, etc.Much of the well-known and respected Latin America media, as well as from around the world, weighs in with a different take on the history, culture, politics, economic theory and more.To some the book might be repetitive, as most of the authors recount a lot of the same details.However, I also believe that to be one of the book's strengths, that by the end of the reader one is well versed in the goings-on.As each author hails from a different educational and professional background, each provides different insights, pearls of wisdom if you will, just when you think there couldn't be anymore to learn.One comes away with knowing the Zapatista movement more as Mexico's version of the Civil Rights era than the next Cuban Revolution, an understanding of Mexican history, particularly as it concerns national and agrarian politics and much, much more.

Editorial Review

Reviews (17)

The Real Left
"Terrorism and War" presents a clear, concise explanation of Howard Zinn's views on war, terrorism, democracy, progressive movements, and capitalism.This tiny book is based on a series of interviews (Dec. 2001-Jan. 2002) with Zinn, who was a bombardier in World War II and now a well-known historian.(He wrote "A People's History of the United States"...)
Zinn makes a strong case for opposing the war on terrorism.His ideas are basically those of the antiwar, socialist Left.Not much new here, but he does a good job in the interviews of explaining his views.My basic complaint is that Zinn, like many Leftists, makes facile, broad generalizations about "capitalism."He also fails to properly distinguish between violence perpetrated by states and that done by non-state actors.They are all "terrorism" for him, which is not a very rigorous argument, and certainly not compelling to the American public.The issue of intentionality and moral relativism must be tackled head on if the Left is to win the war over the American mind.We can do better.

Is war terrorism?
Politics,history, foreign policy and current events are topics I used to avoid, but Zinn presents these subjects in language that is accessible.He makes abstract ideas and historical facts relevent to our lives.This book provides historical context to the tragedies this world has endured over the past few years.The information may not be new since Zinn has imparted these perspectives in many forms over the years, but his views concerning the U.S. role in a global society does need to be revisited and re-evaluated in this post-9/11 world. Terrorism and War is thought provoking, and its juxtaposition of war and terrorism and their causes and consequences is enlightening.The book has led me to ask, "Is there a difference between an act of war and an act of terrorism?" and "Is one action more noble than another?"Further, if one does believe that either action is justified, is the justification strong enough to rationalize the consequences of such violent acts?I do not feel that the book answers these questions, but I applaud its attempt to implore readers to consider such ideas.The book is concise and a quick-read.Yet, the ideas and opinions I formed when I initially read this book two years ago have remained with me. Even if one does not agree with Zinn's views and I'm sure that many do not, the discussion concerning U.S. actions needs to continue and this book sustains the dialogue.

Reviews (159)

Self-citations- YEHHHH!
A booklet filled with typical Chomsky. Nothing is factual but there seem to be lots of citations that refer the reader back to some other Chomsky title which contains even more self-citing.

How deep is the rabbit hole? Only Chomsky knows. I guess this is the trick of a learned linguist.

"The Anti-Chomsky Reader" is a must have accompaniment.

PenetratingArmenian
A Self Certified Blogspot Blogger

PS-1 Star because it's dead cheap and brief.

Chomsky
I find it humorous that one "patriotic, America loving" reviewer wanted to charge Chomsky with treason under the Patriot Act, even though the Constitution clearly spells out the criteria for treason, the only crime it explicitly defines.You would figure that someone who loves America so much would find it abhorrent to circumvent the Constitution like that.
It is completely illogical to equate questioning America with hating America.If you had a family member you thought was making a grave mistake, you most certainly would speak up.I see no difference in this case.In fact, I think it would betreacherous if someone who thought a loved one was making a grave mistake stayed silent, instead of trying to help.America is great because everyone is free to express their opinions, and remains viable because Americans can sort out valid opinions from trash.There is no need to censor them, bad opinions will simply marginalize themselves.If Chomsky's words are those of a loony radical, then people will disregard them.However, if there is validity to them, which many seem to feel, then they are a constructive part of American political discourse.
Chomsky doesn't defend terrorists, he just points out that it isnt the hatred of freedom that spawns them.Our foriegn policy (especially post WWII) has alienated and aggravated a large number of people around the world.That doesnt justify the actions of terrorists, it just helps explain why these people are so determined to destroy us.
Overall, I think this is a solid book, although I am not a huge fan of Chomsky's writing style.

Reviews (21)

Every American should read this book.
We need more books like this to open our eyes to what our government is really doing in the name of the United States.

"Why do they hate us, when we're so good?"
The book is worth reading just for the one chapter whose title I've mentioned above.There are dozens of books out which mindlessly repeat George W. Bush's absurd view that 9/11 happened because Muslims "hate the freedoms" of the West. Chomsky points out that the real reason for anti-US emotion is its corporate-interest led foreign policy, which has propped up the world's most awful dictators and despots (including Saddam Hussein, the Taliban and the Saudi royal family) whenever it has suited US companies and their need for cheap oil.

Short Discussions with Questions and Answers
If you cannot approach his writing with an open mind, do not read the book. If you can the truth is depressing.

This is a small book, and it is not really a book so I am giving it 3 stars - and that is not a reflection of his arguments or the merits of the contents - but rather it is more or less just transcripts of his talks and the contents reflect his other longer books. Still it is a good read and I would recommend buying and reading. One always learns something new in each of his books.

It is a collection of three talks, i.e.: an interview by a Japan based film maker, a talk at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, a talk in Palo Alto at a hotel, plus questions and answers from the talk plus a talk in Berkeley all over a short time in the spring of 2002.

Chomsky repeats and expands on his themes that the US has adopted a policy of force to solve problems in a way that simply is in the short term interest of solely the US and at the expense of other peoples and countries. The UN is used as a tool as needed and other peoples are expendable and of little consequence (such as the millions of Vietnamese killed or many in central America) unless they hold power or resources. The US has supported dictators and suppressive regimes that in the longer term breed hostilities against the US by their citizens - including Saudi Arabia - hence breeding the current stock of Jihad fighters against the US.

People that help the US are given the most support. For example Israel holds power, it has abundant trained human resources, and can act as an extension of US military power in the Middle East. So it and Turkey are important while other groups such as the Palestinians are of little consequence. The "Peace Process" is to maintain a status quo in the region. The "goals" of the US advanced peace process are in fact is not nearly as equitable or humane as say South Africa during the worst years of apartheid, and in fact fall short of what South Africa was advocating prior to the Mandela democratic revolution. Mandela incidentally advocated a democratic South Africa and was branded as a dangerous terrorist by the USA.

He repeats his arguments and draws parallels between Japan and Germany in the 1930's and the US now in that all three used propaganda themes that they were "liberating" or being benevolent or bringing civilization to the people that they conquered by military force - as internal justifications for military actions.

The arguments are excellent and for the most part he is 100% right but remains a small voice in a sea of mindless patriotic fervor and support of military power as opposed to international law and the concept of all peoples being subjected to equal justice, a democratic ideal of the "founding fathers" that has long since been abandoned.

Editorial Review

We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."

In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?

Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.

Editorial Review

On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.

Reviews (9)

A Great Place to Start
I didn't know about the atrocities in East Timor and the USA's complicity in them until I read reference to them in one of Chomsky's works.The outrage was kept secret from the USA public for a long time.

This book provides an excellent introduction to the history and global political dynamics behind the pogroms.You will be shocked and amazed.

Must read for anyone interested in Politics
I found Matthew Jardine's book next to a cash register at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) one day on my way to a flight.

I read it from cover to cover during the one hour flight and even though I was already familiar with the basic history of East Timor, the book informed me in a concise and well written manner, condensing the essense of that tragic history into a few dozen pages........I strongly recommend that anyone interested in what is happening on this planet read this book.

Excellent introduction to East Timor tragedy
The author gives a basic yet horrifying description of Indonesia's mass murder and terror against the people of East Timor, heavily supported from its inception by the United States and its allies. Its short lengthinevitably gives it a certain superficiality; I don't think the author isquite able to impart the full horror of the tragedy. But the basic factsare cogent enough and should give American citizens pause for painful butimportant reflections on how their government actually conducts foreignpolicy and what they can do to stop it from supporting tyranny andgenocide.

Reviews (8)

great for beginers sorta preaching to the choir for others
this is just a begining to the atrocity of the WTO. it will give you great insight to its real workings kept secret by the corporate owned media. sorta old stuff for people who already know about the WTO

Not as strong as the complete book, but a good intro
The complete textbook, "Whose Trade Organization?" is a remarkably potent, relentlessly-documented beast of a book, which I wish more people had the time and inclination to read. This smaller edition lacks the potency and punch of the parent text, but manages to still encompass most of the critical data.

If a book is going to be abridged like this one, chances are that it's intended for mildly curious readers who want to know, "just what are they protesting about the WTO anyway?", rather than for the scholar or intellectual activist. But I'm afraid that this book forgets its likeliest audience. For such an audience, the more effective approach would have been to describe the most extreme and outrageous WTO scenarios, leaving the reader outraged at the moral and political injustices! Instead, this book gives brief desriptions of these, and then mixes in more technical (yet abridged) histories and terms and procedural issues with the WTO. In short, it left in too much of the nuts-and-bolts when it should have displayed more of the outrageous effects on human rights, environment, national sovereinty, labor, toxins, etc.

A second shortcoming is that the book assumes its reader is sympathetic to such concerns (environment, labor, culture, etc.). What we need is a book directed at Conservatives, explaining to them why the WTO is an insult to conservative values by supplanting the laws created by a sovereign nation, overwhelming our Constitution in favor of corporate-managed meddling, and actually defying the concept of "free trade" with shockingly-entrenched meddling from an organization that does not have the U.S.'s sovereign interests in mind.

People's Primer on Main Obstacle to Self-Governance

Lori Wallach has got to be on her way to a Nobel Prize.She has hit an exposed nerve of the corporate system, and illuminated it in a manner that moves tens of thousands.This book, a very short version of a much longer study, is very cogent and well-documented.The bottom line is clear: the WTO operates in secrecy, for the convenience of corporations, and is systematically undermining and overturning higher standards of protections and sanctions related to the protection of children, public safety, and the environment.

Isbn: 1583225404
Sales Rank: 34761
Subjects:  1. 1947-    2. 1977-    3. Communalism    4. Economic conditions    5. Globalization    6. History & Theory - Radical Thought    7. India    8. Middle Eastern    9. Natural Resources Management    10. Poetry    11. Political And Civil Rights    12. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    13. Politics - Current Events    14. Politics and government    15. Public Policy - Economic Policy    16. History / United States / 20th Century   

Reviews (2)

Completely wrong on all 10 reasons
Anyone who is looking for an economic analysis on why the IMF and World Bank (something that should be done rigorously) should be abolished should look elsewhere.This book is not a condemnation of the IMF and the World Bank, but a condemnation of free trade and capitalism.

He talks about how markets create inequality.My response to that is: so what?People by their very nature are unequal, with skills that are in various states of demand.It is not surprising that an electrical engineer is more valuable, thus gets paid more than and cashier and that a CEO gets paid more than an electrical engineer.The more scarce and in demand (i.e., valuable) your skills are the more you will get paid.Another example is the following: Suppose John makes $20/hr and Jason makes $15/hr, then at the end of the year John gets a 10% raise and Jason get a 5% raise.The inequality between the two have increased, BUT they are both better off because they each make more.

He then talks about how businesses will deplete any and all resources in the name of the bottom line, using the logging industry as an example.No industry is so foolish and short sighted.The logging industry knows that if it cuts down every last tree, then it will no longer be in business, so they take steps to avoid this.They modify trees to grow faster, plant a tree for every one they cut down, and rotate through different patches, coming back to the same patch of trees when they are matured, thus they are able to produce on a finite amount of space, without having to expand.The faster a tree can grow the less space is needed to get the same amount of logging.In fact, forest coverage over the world has increased over that last 80 years.Not only is this push for efficiency (doing more with less) true for the logging industry, but is true for all industries.And as technology improves, so does the environment.

Outrageously, he says that the average worker in developed countries are worse off due to free trade.Any check on the facts shows this to be clearly false.Todays average citizen in any developed nation has so much wealth as to be incomprehensible to anyone who lived 100 years ago.In fact, we live in a time of such abundance that even those who can afford cell phones, cars, microwaves, refridgerators, cable TV, etc. are considered to live in poverty.

Another of his 'reasons' on the fallacy of free trade is that none of the developed countries developed in the absence of government intervention.While this is true, what he ignores is that the developed countries developed in an economic atmosphere of substantially less government intervention than in the past.In all of economic history, all around the world, governments have contorlled and directed the economy.Then, during the Enlightenment, the idea of personal freedom became popular, with a corresponding weakening of government influence and power over the avereage citizen.When this took place, the economies of the Western world exploded, giving them the capital to explore and develop.This is the primary reason for the dominance of the West.

Another idea about the evils of capitalism and free trade is downsizing.Companies downsize because they can do more with less.The agricultural revolution means that 1 or 2 people can create enough food for 98 or 99 people.This frees up the 98 or 99 people to do other things besides worry about where they are going to get their next meal.Today, the manufacturing sector in America produces 95% more than it did in 1970, with only 75% of the people in manufacturing during the 1970s.This means that productivity per worker increased by more than a factor of 2.When this occurs companies will naturally lay off workers.Instead of viewing this as an evil, it should be viewed as what it actuall is: allowing labor to go where it is most needed.Due to the efficiency of agriculture people were free to work on other things, like manufacturing, and creating newer and better services, instead of toiling away on the farm.Why don't we hear cries for making farms more inefficient or forcing famers to hire more people than is necassary, which will force more people to become farmers?Because that does NOT make sense.

I can't remember all of his 'reasons' since I wasn't foolish enough to buy this book, but all of his other 'reasons' are just as weak in fact and logic.Don't buy this book.All but 2 or 3 sentences are wrong.

Isbn: 0932020674
Sales Rank: 1245562
Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Brazil    4. Government relations    5. Indians of South America    6. Latin America - South America    7. Nambicuara Indians    8. Native Americans - History    9. Social conditions    10. Sociology    11. World Bank    12. Price, David   

Editorial Review

Reviews (22)

Michael Moore's Lost Twin?
I got this book not too long ago based on some of the reviews here.Like everyone else I want to get to the bottom of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.I thought maybe this book would have the answer.

Well going through it the book does make a lot of sense.I can understand the attraction of the oil money and the involvement of politicians and other powerful figures.

But it kind of falls down when you look at the truth behind it.Some of the people in the book have taken the authors to court over what it says.And as far as I can tell the result was that the authors were wrong.Now I know it would be kind of hard to show that someone or other paid for the Twin Towers attacks and so on but you would think there would be enough to get it to hold up in court.But I am wrong about that!

So this book is kind of the twin to Fahrenheit 911.A lot of interesting stuff but you don't know if it is true or not.I tried looking at Brisard's company site and it seems to be shut down.I saw a web page that said one of the court decisions against him also included shutting down the company.

Now what I find really sad about this is that Brisard was helping the families of the 911 victims sue the terrorists.The US cannot even catch Ben Laden so it made sense to me that you could sue the Saudis and so on to get some justice.But I for one have to wonder if the court actions against Brisard are going to make it just a little harder for the families to get their fair day in court.

All in all the book is worth reading as it is pretty interesting even today but you just have to wonder how much is really true.

More Like Forbidden Libel
I found this book utterly fascinating when it came out and I have followed the contents and authors closely.Since then the authors have lost every libel action filed against them and the US has had to retract Mr. Brisard's congressional testimony.It also develops that he never did work for the United Nations despite saying so.Even though I used to think this book had the truth about 9/11 now I think it is just conspiracy theory and that's sad.

Gemma

Reviews (8)

Emergent Voice
Compact, highly readable, survey of neo-con strategy for a new American century. The booklet is simply too condensed to be either weighty or deep, nor do the respective sections on Terrorism and Iraq cohere well, (oddly, there is next to nothing on Afghanistan, a logical bridge between the two). That being said, Mahajan emerges as aconsistently sharp-eyed critic of Washington's pretentions at doing something other than building a particularly ruthless and self-serving world empire. That is the book's core and its main virtue. The historical facts are presented cleanly and effectively, much like an extended op-ed piece with footnotes. I particularly like the way Mahajan refuses to pull punches in either this book or in his tv appearances. The section on the murderous UN sanctions regime is especially revealing for an inside look at how that body gets co-opted into the imperial project. Anyone looking to understand why an anti-war, anti-US movement, is growing world-wide, would do well to pick up this little book from one of its emergent voices.

Rigorous Political Science
Why would I want to pay to read what a "non-expert" with absolutely no credentials in military affairs or international relations has to say about the U.S. in Iraq?Because I prefer the rational, empirical analysis built from the facts up rather than an analysis put forward by an "expert" indoctrinated by higher education (1) to accept simplistic and downright childish establishment principles (e.g., the U.S. government always acts with benevolent intentions) and (2) to explain facts only in terms of those naive principles (e.g., if the U.S. invades Iraq, it must be to liberate Iraqis and spread democracy because the U.S. government always acts with benevolent intentions).To say the very least, a Ph.D. in political science from a state university is not a requirement to understand the world.

Mahajan is an expert, in the proper use of the term.He has a command of the facts, both current and historical, and his explanation of the U.S. government's behavior is properly inferred from them (as opposed to explaining facts in terms of unwarranted and naive assumptions borne of indoctrination with no basis in observational fact, as self-described "experts" tend to do).

This book is not a book about strategy.Rather, it is an empirical and scientific work that collects facts (data), draws conclusions, and posits a theory based upon them, familiar ground for a physicist.

Isbn: 0312233353
Sales Rank: 369024
Subjects:  1. 1980-    2. American    3. Anarchism    4. Cities and towns    5. Popular Culture - General    6. Public spaces    7. Social Science    8. Social conditions    9. Sociology    10. Sociology - Urban    11. United States    12. Urban Sociology    13. Architecture / Planning