Against Empire

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe I Actually used to believe this stuff
Review: At one time, Parenti, along with Chomsky and Zinn, were my favorite political analysts. Then I matured. Not because I became a right-winger, but because I discovered far more credible scholarship from a centrist viewpoint. If your familiar with Chomsky, get ready for someone that exceeds even him in a lack of understanding of the international economy (and basic economics itself), global affairs, history, and comparative ideologies. Parenti had another book (I think its called Brownshirts and Reds) in which he attempts to apologize for virtually every Communist government and/or historical figure (including-i'm not kidding-an entire chapter alone to Stalin) while claiming that fascism/nazism is so radically different and so completely evil compared to the benefits of Marxism-Leninism. There seems to be a real pattern here: no matter what kind of mistakes or crimes communist governments were responsible for, the US-backed governments they overthrew were always far worse.In the real world, it was usually quite to opposite. He even goes as far as to state that the Khmer Rouge was actually not a communist movement, but a fascist one. Everything is so completely distorted and simplified you feel as if he's discussing history and current events from a parallel universe

Rating:
Summary: This is why Parenti is my favorite.
Review: For those who think one requires endless "documentation" and "proof" to ascertain the level to which the U.S. Corporateacracy has obliterated (and continues to obliterate) our few remaining freedoms, one need only look around oneself and develop a heart of compassion for those who suffer under the iron fist of capitalism. Yes, documentation and proof (of which Dr. Parenti has a sufficient amount) are helpful, but one can only provide so much of it until it becomes painfully apparent that one need only observe his/her immediate environment to figure out that life is less than tolerable. AGAINST EMPIRE is yet another salient and sharply accurate appraisal of a society owned and operated by those who sit atop a massive mountain of cold, hard, cash, mostly white men who percieve those below them as they would lint to be brushed off of their well-starched and pressed suits. Those who accuse Parenti of being "fraudulent" or pandering "too much" towards the radical left spectrum are simply rightists who don't like him for being a leftist. They themselves offer little (if anything) amounting to "evidence" to support their ad hominem jabs. Parenti is, as the cliche goes, tellin' it like it is, and they don't much like that a wit. Parenti is SCARY in his honesty, and they don't like THAT either. For those who want a picture of just how disturbing the "American Dream" really is, one need look no further than Dr. Michael Parenti and AGAINST EMPIRE. His other publications are also highly recommended. BLACKSHIRTS AND REDS is also excellent and harshly disturbing. Read him, and learn the TRUTH.

Rating:
Summary: A tasty red pill, if you're prepared for it....
Review: I bought this book about three years ago. When I first tried to read it, I couldn't get very far because the subject matter was unfamiliar to me. I mean, what is all this "imperialism" stuff? Since then, a US administration has grabbed power in a judicial coup d'etat and now wields a brazen imperial style of rule.

So, going through my bookshelves, I picked up Mr. Parenti's "Against Empire" and started reading again. If you, like me, have wondered why the rich get richer and poor get poorer; why the wealthy are always favored; why the common people kill and die in dubious wars while the rich reap the rewards; why the corporate media censors dissenting views; and why our country operates in ways that defy common sense or exemplify hypocrisy; then this book is for you.

Mr. Parenti's talent is putting matters that seem complicated into terms that the layman can understand. For example, his explanation of the distinction between government and the state is revelatory. He also gives the reader historical context and easily verfiable examples to back up his assertions. Halfway through "Against Empire" you will better understand what goes on behind the doors of power and why.

Remember "The Matrix"? Well, "Against Empire" is like a red pill that you have to chew, and once you've digested it you'll see with open eyes. If you're unprepared for the truth, resume swallowing the blue pill of cable TV news. Or, read "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast, then begin reading Parenti's "Against Empire."

Rating:
Summary: Greatest book ever
Review: I haven't been conditioned to believe this book. Perhaps that's an argument of Parenti that even my young (seventeen), liberal mind won't be able to accept his radial ideas.

I didn't find this book very credible even though the statistics are endless. However, any time I bring up statistics my dad reminds me that anything can be proved with numbers. If I want lots of numbers I can read Howard Zinn, who gives evidence for what he says. (Zinn's book "A People's History of the United States" has a full length bibliography, which is several hundred pages, for each of the chapters. I did hear that Parenti has more documentation in his other books, which I haven't read)

Is Parenti a major conspiracy theorist? He says what seems to be unreasonable and lays it on thickly.

Parenti is a good writer and his writing is a welcome alternative to the text-book sludge and "Great Books" series with their notions of how and why we should be patriotic. This is the first Parenti book I've read and I'm not attacking him as a writer. I don't think 'Against Empire' will sway many readers. It may be only for a niche.

Rating:
Summary: Sprinking truth in the darkness
Review: I started reading Parenti through this book that I got after I met him. It is offensive... if truth offends... It is subversive... if trying to expose reality is going against the well established lies. It is brief and straight to the heart of the problem, the one that many people refuse to face. Perhaps it is its briefness that makes it even more palatable in this oppressive days when the markets rule the world.

Rating:
Summary: A scathing review of my now-not-so-favorite country
Review: I'm American. A born-in-the-Midwest cornfed type whom the rest of the world increasingly hates more and more. I grew up in a white middle class family. And now, thanks to Parenti, I question the relevence of it all. At what cost to my parents, my world, and my fellow humans?

Other reviewers acurately point out that not everything in the book is neatly backed up, but one can't deny the wide scope and dead on reality of the majority of the book. This book is a MUST read for anyone who lives in America and considers the American foreign policy either bad or good.

Buy it - buy it now. It will open your eyes to corporate run media, campaign reform, foreign policy, the oil industry, and why the world disdains Americans.

Rating:
Summary: Parenti Cuts Through The Veil Of Illusion
Review: I've been reading Parenti's books for a couple of years, and seeking out his articles and lectures. Reading Against Empire was my first exposure to the man. He characterizes the United States as an Empire, in the classic sense, demolishes your ability to look at your country in any other way, and then goes on to discuss practically every aspect of US foreign and domestic policy in terms of how it serves an active and malignant Empire. His class anaylsis makes itr impossible to ever again percieve U.S. roles in world finance, war, humanitarian missions, etc the same way again. Before, I wondered why we might intervene here but not there, why a war at this time and not another, etc. Parenti cuts through the mystery and exposes again and again the class interests that drive our policy. And he does so in blunt, sometimes deadpan humor and with a remarkably clear vision. Also read his new book, Blackshirts and Reds, about fascism. And if you get a chance, order tapes of his lectures

Rating:
Summary: Missing the Point
Review: I've read the other reviews here and I must say one thing: those who claim that Parenti is crying "conspiracy" have no idea what they're talking about. Perhaps the fact that this is so far-reaching and exaggerated makes them assume the extreme. Most critics of the U.S. government, from the right and left, will agree that the atrocities made in the name of capitalism (not 'democracy' as we are so often told) by the U.S. are endless and without conscience. Parenti points this out. Parenti does what the blurb on the front cover of the book contends: he gives a "Brilliant exposé of the brutal realities of U.S. Global Domination" with well founded and backing statistics.
For those who maintain that this is an opinion piece, I tell you that this is the idea that the writer intends, to expose through example- for you need not "quote" history- the true Evil that is the U.S. capitalist military machine.
Let's not get lost in scholarly exercises of citing and the endless circle of recycling the words of others. Parenti has something to say here and he says it well.

Rating:
Summary: Truth has many faces, usually away from extremism
Review: The writer from Houston (TX) says this book is an intellectual fraud. He says so analysing one chapter in particular, or one criticism exposed in the book. Another reader from Wichita (KS) centers his criticism over the recurring distinction between communists and/or nazis. They both narrow they disliking for the book around only two of the many issues faced by Parenti's analysis. To them I ask this question: do you still deny everything else exposed in the book? I'm not suggesting to "drink" everything Parenti says as being true, but the main issue that lies at the very heart of his book is the subtle ways trhough which America tries to rule the world. Interfering in other countries political affairs, and then showing itself as being the savior of the oppressed is very disgusting, but hard to face for many Americans. Indeed very easy for those who see things from the outside because they are foreigners. The book is worth to be read just to be aware that things are different than the way CNN tells you.

Rating:
Summary: Life-changing
Review: Young or old, democrat of republican, critic or patriot, this book will change how you view America and the world as a whole. Not a list of opinions by some political pundit, this book specializes in FACTS - and the facts are troubling.