{"title":"Michael Parenti","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael Parenti\u003c\/strong\u003e offers incisive explorations into political power, empire, and social justice, challenging conventional narratives with clarity and rigour. His works, such as \u003cem\u003eAgainst Empire\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAmerica Besieged\u003c\/em\u003e, provide critical insights into the forces shaping modern society and the often hidden dynamics of control and resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRooted in a broad understanding of history and culture, Parenti’s writing engages deeply with issues of oppression and ideology, making his books essential reading for those interested in the intersections of power, ecology, and global affairs within the \u003cem\u003eScience \u0026amp; Nature\u003c\/em\u003e category.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"america-besieged-by-michael-parenti-9780872863385","title":"America Besieged","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerica Besieged\u003c\/i\u003e deals with the underlying forces within U.S. society that deeply affect our lives. Showing how we are being misled and harmed by those who profess to have our interests at heart, Michael Parenti writes: \"We are indeed a nation besieged, not from without but from within, not subverted from below but from above; the moneyed power exercises a near monopoly influence over our political life, over the economy, the state, and the media. Some Americans are astonished to hear of it. Others have had their suspicions, although they may not be quite sure how it all adds up. This book invites the reader to stop blaming the powerless and poor and, in that good old American phrase, start 'following the money.' That is the first and most important step toward lifting the siege and bringing democracy back to life.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e describes Parenti's voice as sharp and urgent, providing a short but comprehensive course in radical analysis. He ticks off what he feels are America's problems: a political culture all too ready to worship politicians rather than ask hard questions (\"[I]t is the essence of democracy,\" he cautions, \"that we not trust and not have faith in our leaders\"); a fundamentally unjust economy in which \"pollution, like sin, is regularly denounced but vigorously practiced\"; a state shockingly willing to tolerate the murder of left-wing dissidents from other countries; and a narrow-minded, jingoistic mass media that serves as the handmaid of corporate power (why, he asks, did neo-Nazi--but pro-capitalist--David Duke's failed Senate bid receive so much more attention than Socialist Bernard Sanders's victory?). Rather more hyperbolically, he notes that the recent Olympics \"felt more like Munich 1936 than Atlanta 1996.\" Opinionated and angry, but also reasonable and sincerely hopeful in the possibility of a better future through collective action, this is a book Joe Hill would have loved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichael Parenti, one of America's most astute and entertaining political analysts, is the author of \u003ci\u003eAgainst Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDirty Truths\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBlackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDemocracy for the Few\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLand of Idols: Political Mythology in America\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other books.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853953323244,"sku":"9780872863385","price":49.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21130433482498.jpg?v=1759227582"},{"product_id":"blackshirts-and-reds-by-michael-parenti-9780872863293","title":"Blackshirts and Reds","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlackshirts \u0026amp; Reds\u003c\/i\u003e explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology—terms often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eParenti shows how \"rational fascism\" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege. He also maps out the external and internal forces that destroyed communism, and the disastrous impact of the \"free-market\" victory on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He affirms the relevance of taboo ideologies like Marxism, demonstrating the importance of class analysis in understanding political realities and dealing with the ongoing collision between ecology and global corporatism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWritten with a lucid and compelling style, this book goes beyond truncated modes of thought, inviting us to entertain iconoclastic views and to ask why things are as they are. It is a bold and entertaining exploration of the epic struggles of yesterday and today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A penetrating and persuasive writer with an astonishing array of documentation to implement his attacks.\"\u003c\/em\u003e - \u003ci\u003eThe Catholic Journalist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlackshirts \u0026amp; Reds\u003c\/i\u003e discusses the great combat between fascism and socialism that is the defining feature of the Twentieth Century, and takes every official version to task for its substitution of moral analysis for critical analysis, for its selectivity, and for its errata. By portraying the struggle between fascism and Communism in this century as a single conflict, and not a series of discrete encounters, between the insatiable need for new capital on the one hand and the survival of a system under siege on the other, Parenti defines fascism as the weapon of capitalism, not simply an extreme form of it. Fascism is not an aberration, he points out, but a \"rational\" and integral component of the system.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e- Stan Goff, \u003ci\u003eThe Prism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael Parenti\u003c\/strong\u003e, PhD Yale, is an internationally known author and lecturer. He is one of the nation's leading progressive political analysts. He is the author of over 275 published articles and twenty books. His writings are published in popular periodicals, scholarly journals, and his op-ed pieces have been in leading newspapers such as \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e. His informative and entertaining books and talks have reached a wide range of audiences in North America and abroad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Gardners Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46997942305004,"sku":"9780872863293","price":48.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21129513482498.jpg?v=1763199570"},{"product_id":"against-empire-by-michael-parenti-9780872862982","title":"Against Empire","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichly informed and written in an engaging style, \u003cem\u003eAgainst Empire\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A valuable rebuttal to the drumbeat...from the right.\"\u003c\/em\u003e – New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Entertainingly written.\"\u003c\/em\u003e – Publishers Weekly\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Parenti writes clear, smooth, often provocative prose, has a way of cutting to the heart of complex issues and knows how to tell a story.\"\u003c\/em\u003e – Allan Johnson, Author of Human Arrangements\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichael Parenti, PhD Yale, is an internationally known author and lecturer. He is one of the nation's leading progressive political analysts. He is the author of over 275 published articles and twenty 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47558895632620,"sku":"9780872862982","price":53.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780872862982-against-empire.jpg?v=1776919502"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/michael-parenti.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}