Against Empire

Essential reading for all Americans:Tucker Carlson says you hate America if you question the establishment. What is he referring to? I love America. I hate the crimes of the empire.Quality of the product was superb, both in terms of content as well as aesthetic condition. Easy read. Parenti lives up to his name and steers clear of any academic pretensions. His writing is meant to be easily digested by anyone English literate. Could be skimmed through in a sitting. Enjoy!

There is a mythology in the united states that we are a sort of salvation army that fights bad guys and helps the needy. In fact, U.S. foreign policy serves mostly the favored few of the ruling class rather than the common people in this country and abroad. This is given no recognition in mainstream political discussion and media commentary. Thus, This book is a great framework for thinking about foreign policy.

Extremely well written! Details the way the West has manufactured a perfect system for the exploitation of the third world. This system which enriches The Western Capitalist class forces the rest of the world into poverty and prevents any way of getting out of this poverty.

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 BateyAnton_Batey@yahoo.com

Great read! A must have for people who wants to understand American geopolitics.

This book is a must read for everyone who wants to know what's going on with the foreign wars, the "war on terror", the "war on drugs", the so called "Dept. of Defense" (which used to be called the "War Dept." and still is just that) and so many other things that just seem like (and are sometimes claimed to be) incompetence. You will be informed of these things and many more follies of US policy after you read this book!

Excellent.

Sling mud at Michael Parenti's work, any of it. It just doesn't stick. If anyone is a true Patriot who cares deeply about our nation's future and its (sociopaths excluded)people, it's Michael Parenti.

Extremely detailed book regarding the role of the U.S.A. and it's impact on the rest of the world. An inside scoop on U.S.A. foreign politics with tons of information.

The book provides a real and raw perspective of what is happening in the world. It moves beyond the spin that vested interests have on the global economy to give a crystal clear perspective on who plays what role and what's in it for them.