America Besieged

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Great book!

Michael Parenti did it, a great well-organized book which step-by-step examines everything revolving around our life, from the media to the economy, to the politics, and relates it to how all these three strangleholds on society are manipulated and/or owned by capital and corporations. Parenti also confronts capitalism as an "system without a soul or humanity" which reduces every human activity to market profitablity. This book really does go to the core of America and emphasizes that democracy has not been achieved, that democracy is only for the rich and the owning class, from the two-party system where both parties are pro-corporation, which supresses left wing ideology by various ways in history, as well as tactics still being practiced today. Overall, this book is a summary of all the problems that are happening in the US that most of the rich do not know or want to admit are happening. I recomend this book as a vivid overview of the supressed problems in todays society to any open minded reader.

Rating:
Summary: Parenti
Review: I would personally not recommend this book. Mr. Parenti seems to have combined a dozen book summaries into this one book. Topics run wild and the short arguments are not backed up by anything but blatantly obvious manipulations of statistics. Mr. Parenti seems to be displeased with everyone and everything that has to do with America. As a leftist, he gives us a bad name by putting down EVERYTHING the right does and praising (as one does to God) the left. His arguments are not fair criticisms nor are they very convincing. The topics give a tremendous opportunity for some great discussion but unfortunately it was missed

Rating:
Summary: Goes to the core
Review: In a timely analysis and polemic, Michael Parenti in 206 pages discusses who owns America and pretty much the lives of its citizens. Written before the United States Supreme Court handed G.W. Bush the U.S. presidency, Parenti's book makes this process more understandable * * * and in retrospect, seemingly "natural." If there was ever some doubt that democracy has become one dollar one vote then that should have dispelled it!

U.S President Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined in 1939, after Benito Mussolini and his Black Shirts took over Italy while Adolf Hitler and his Brown Shirts took over Germany that, "Fascism is what happens when corporations own the state." That's a quote! While Parenti's book stops short of making that charge, perhaps it approaches Roosevelt's observations.

Excellent accompaniments for reading AMERICA BESIEGED are Robert McChesney's, "Rich Media, Poor Democracy : Communication Politics in Dubious Times (The History of Communication)," and Nancy Snow's, "Propaganda, Inc.: Selling America's Culture to the World," the Foreword for which was written by Michael Parenti. That's the full dose for mourning America's languishing democracy. However, there is still an idealistic democratic spirit alive in America which can be witnessed in director Shaya Mercer's recent award-winning documentary film, "Trade Off;" ... The issues raised by Parenti were peacefully but vigorously aired during December 1999 in Seattle by the 50,000 American citizens demanding to get their democracy back; who were promptly marginalized by the very same corporate media discussed in AMERICA BESIEGED .

To get the full picture both figuratively and literally you'll have to read Parenti's AMERICA BESIEGED as a primer, and also the other two books and VHS mentioned above. The good news is, Snow's pamphlet (actually) is an easy to read 80 pages and costs only [a few dollars] at Amazon.com. But then you'll have to read (or re-read) Thomas Jefferson's instructions in the Declaration of Independence and in the letters to his friend James Madison [collected in "Thomas Jefferson : Writings: Autobiography / Notes on the State of Virginia / Public and Private Papers / Addresses / Letters" --- avalable here ] for discovering what to do about it. However, for beginning to understand what's going on here and now you simply must read Parenti's, AMERICA BESIEGED.

Rating:
Summary: We need his voice.
Review: Michael Parenti poses the right question: cui bono?
In the US for the wealthy few, not the many. The many are besieged in their own country by the few.
The few control the democratic process via a political duopoly and a near media monopoly. This monopoly brings another one in mainstream media ideology.
Michael Parenti is deadly right: democracy is based on distrust, not on yes-men who preach the same gospel.
The many are also besieged through the US budget, where a very big chunk goes to massive defence spending with juicy contracts and fat margins.

This book contains for me some extremely surprising facts. So is the First Amendment protection not valid for private-sector employees. They can be fired for their political views. Also, foreigners can be denied a visit to the US for ideological reasons.
On another level: Bill Clinton, like Jimmy Carter, is a member of the Bilderberg group.

I have nevertheless reservations for some extreme viewpoints of the author.
I agree with him that the market is not free, but more or less rigged by oligopolies. But I don't agree with him on his totally anti-market stance. Only, the oligopolies should be broken.
I am equally not against transnational companies. On the contrary, I agree with Susan Strange that these companies are one of the major sources of higher living standards in the world, through their delocations, investments and technology transfers. I agree that this is (was) in their own interest, but the effect is the same (Adam Smith revisited).
I am also not against GATT. It should be changed from within. We need more open markets for all countries and all players.

As other writers (Domhoff, Vidal) stated: it will be very difficult to change the actual situation. Therefore we need Michael Parenti's voice for more democracy.

This book deals with essential problems and has the same high standard as the vitriolic books of Gore Vidal. Not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Something for those who want to know more.
Review: Michael Parenti's America Besieged is a wonderful book. It is a political science type book that tells what's really going on in America. Parenti focuses on America and what is really going on behind closed doors. He reminds us of how democracy really works in the USA. This book is organized in five parts. It doesn't go easy to hard stuff, but from how politics work to how things are really run. Parenti dives into how well we are protected from certain problems that might occur at certain times. He also tells about those things, that we really aren't supposed to know about. Raids on certain protect organizations in the US in the 1960s and 1970s, and the reasons for the raids. Parenti also gives examples of how certain ethnic groups in Europe, and in the Middle East aren't allowed into America because of political ideology. How certain security agencies in the US have files on numerous people who don't believe in American beliefs.

Parenti looks at all branches of government, and what they really do for Americans. He tells the real job of the President, and how the economy really runs. Parenti goes on to remind us that the rich are the ones that are in a Democracy, not the lower class Americans. He ties this in with the media and how they shift things to make a certain group look better, instead of telling it without bias. How they always do this no matter what the cause or problem is. Overall, this book is wonderful. I think anyone that really wants to know about America's secrets should read this. The insight that Michael Parenti gives is immeasurable.

Rating:
Summary: Something for those who want to know more.
Review: Michael Parenti's America Besieged is a wonderful book. It is a political science type book that tells what's really going on in America. Parenti focuses on America and what is really going on behind closed doors. He reminds us of how democracy really works in the USA. This book is organized in five parts. It doesn't go easy to hard stuff, but from how politics work to how things are really run. Parenti dives into how well we are protected from certain problems that might occur at certain times. He also tells about those things, that we really aren't supposed to know about. Raids on certain protect organizations in the US in the 1960s and 1970s, and the reasons for the raids. Parenti also gives examples of how certain ethnic groups in Europe, and in the Middle East aren't allowed into America because of political ideology. How certain security agencies in the US have files on numerous people who don't believe in American beliefs.

Parenti looks at all branches of government, and what they really do for Americans. He tells the real job of the President, and how the economy really runs. Parenti goes on to remind us that the rich are the ones that are in a Democracy, not the lower class Americans. He ties this in with the media and how they shift things to make a certain group look better, instead of telling it without bias. How they always do this no matter what the cause or problem is. Overall, this book is wonderful. I think anyone that really wants to know about America's secrets should read this. The insight that Michael Parenti gives is immeasurable.