Product Description

Richly informed and written in an engaging style, Against Empire exposes the ruthless agenda and hidden costs of the U.S. empire today. Documenting the pretexts and lies used to justify violent intervention and maldevelopment abroad, Parenti shows how the conversion to a global economy is a victory of finance capital over democracy.

As much of the world suffers unspeakable misery and the Third-Worldization of the United States accelerates, civil society is impoverished by policies that benefit rich and powerful transnational corporations and the national security state. Hard-won gains made by ordinary people are swept away.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228946 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 217 pages

Midwest Book Review
Against Empire focuses on exposing the agenda and costs of U. S. expansion in the world and documents the lies used to justify violent intervention in world politics, considering how economics plays into political decision-making process and providing a strong case for considering past wrongs and future changes. An excellent, strong title.

About the Author
Michael Parenti, PhD Yale, is an internationally known author and lecturer. He is one of the nation's leadiing progressive political analysts. He is the author of over 250 published articles and seventeen books. His writings are published in popular periodicals, scholarly journals, and his op-ed pieces have been in leading newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. His informative and entertaining books and talks have reached a wide range of audiences in North America and abroad.

Customer Reviews

Parenti attacks America's achilles heal.
America has grown into an immoral Empire which has violated the elemental spirit of our Constitution. In this book, Parenti dissects this evolution into an Empire and lays American imperialism and corporatism bare for anyone to examine and condemn...or praise, if they cannot see the evil.

Simply stated facts and analysis that the polite don't say
This was the first of many books I've read by Michael Parenti, and remains my favorite. There exist numerous books that get into more detail regarding the history that Parenti regurgitates, but for a book that's roughly 200 pages, this sums up imperialism pretty well.

There will be two different types of people reading this book. The people who will read this that will reinforce the their conviction that the United States was, and remains an imperialist country, and those who reject that America is even an "Empire" to begin with, thus disputing the very premise of the book. The latter will despise this book due to its very raw and blunt breakdown.

One could deny that America is an imperialist country, I suppose, just as one can deny that the Ukraine was under the thumb of the Soviet Union because the Ukraine had their own table at the U.N., but one doesn't have to commence an extensive investigation to comprehend the absurdity of that notion. For example, this book points out the unpleasant truth that post-World War 2 (the timeframe most of this book is dedicated to) the United States has sustained countless dictatorships via military, economy and political support, and, although professing an allegiance to democracy in the Third World, overthrowing dozens of elected governments. Why? Because their polices were not in accordance with that of American business wellbeing, yet those dictators supported were subservient to those same interests.

So in essence, Parenti does a wonderful job of explaining how America habitually selects the type of society people in a country will live under and sends support to maintain the leaders the United States designates as "appropriate". He also does a great hob of explaining how imperialism keeps underdeveloped nations underdeveloped through institutional obstacles, such as large scale industry from the richer country taking over the smaller indigenous ones, thus retarding the growth and development of their own capital.


Anton Batey
Anton_Batey@yahoo.com

Unreliable
This book is not serious scholarship, it is merely an op-ed piece. The author, Michael Parenti does not provide any footnotes to back up his claims; strange coming from a scholar from Yale. No matter how much is said that conforms to my beliefs about politics it simply cannot be relied on as there is almost no evidence within.