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Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq & Beyond
Rahul Mahajan £6.99
A brilliant and compelling big picture assessment of the U.S. war on Iraq and what it means for understanding the U.S. role in the world in the early
21st century. This is a book filled with crystal clear thinking, reasoned arguments, unpretentious language and hard evidence. Essential reading
for those who wish to continue the fight against empire.
Seven Stories Press (2003) ISBN 1583225781
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The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group (hardback)
Dan Briody £17.50
The Carlyle Group has $14 billion under management, an employee roster that reads like a who's who
from the worlds of business & politics (including Bush Senior & John Major), and hundreds of defence, aerospace, telecom &healthcare companies in its portfolio.
It operates in within a powerful & profitable world known as the iron triangle - where industry, government & the military converge.
According to some, Carlyle epitomizes corporate cronyism, conflicts of interest & war profiteering. Dan Briody's
penetrating investigation will lead you into a clandestine world few can imagine, and shows how Carlyle continues to profit from the war on terrorism.
Wiley (2003) ISBN 0471281085
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Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta
Gore Vidal £9.95
The explosive follow-up to Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. A collection of provocative essays in which he confronts head-on the unelected & unconstitutional Cheney-Bush administration. In a centrepiece new essay on the events of 11th September, Vidal poses questions which will not go away. How much intelligence information did the security services really have in advance of the tragedy? Whose interests are served by the new US doctrine of pre-emptive attacks? In other essays Vidal unveils a counter-history that traces the origins of the USA's current imperial ambitions to the Truman Doctrine that gave birth to the National Security State.
(Note: Not quite as current as the title makes it sound, as many of the essays are from the 1990s and deal with Clinton-era foreign policy, or with the Second World War and its aftermath - but still highly recommended!)
Clairview (2003) ISBN 1902636414
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Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism
Joel Andreas £6.95
A witty and devastating comic-book critique of U.S. military policy from the 19th century to the present 'War on Terror', that asks: who profits from war and who pays the price? Don't underestimate it because it's a comic and is ostensibly for young people - it doesn't stint on detail, it's clear and accessible and always thought-provoking. This is an excellent book, we recommend it highly!
"Political comics at its best. Bitterly amusing, lively and richly informative. For people of all ages who want to understand the link between U.S. militarism, foreign policy, and corporate greed at home and abroad"
Michael Parenti
AK Press (2002) ISBN 190259357x
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Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
William Blum £9.99
A vivid, well-aimed critique of the evils of U.S. global interventionism. Blum demonstrates how U.S. policy, under the banners of 'freedom' and 'human rights' has led to barbarous criminal acts, how the world's 'force for peace' has acted in the most bellicose form.
"We find in these pages, meticulously detailed and annotated, all the instances of assassination, covert and overt destabilisation, election-rigging, sponsorship of terrorism, secret surveillance, brainwashing and provocation that the U.S. has employed to further its burgeoning corporate empire … After reading Rogue State, it is impossible to hang fast to the comforting illusion that the 'American Way' is some kind of enlightenment"
Will Self
Zed Books (2002) ISBN 184277221x
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Why Do People Hate America?
Ziauddin Sardar & Merryl Wyn Davies £7.99
American corporations and popular culture affect the lives & infect the indigenous cultures of millions around the world. The foreign policy of the US government, backed by its military strength, has unprecedented global influence now that the USA is the world's only superpower - its first 'hyperpower'.
Many people do hate America, in the Middle East and the developing countries as well as in Europe. The authors consider this hatred in the context of America's own perception of itself, and provide an important contribution to a debate which needs to be addressed by people of all nations, cultures, and political persuasions.
Icon Books (2002) ISBN 184046383x
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Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated, Causes of Conflict in the Last Empire
Gore Vidal £8.95
In Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, the masterful, award-winning writer Gore Vidal transcends the simplistic black-and-white sloganizing of politicians and the corporate-sponsored media. Far from being an apologist for terrorism, Vidal makes a rational investigation into the causes behind the devastating events of 11 September and the Oklahoma bombing. He even enters into a remarkable correspondence with McVeigh, partially reproduced here. One of the last great independent thinkers, Vidal refuses to be steamrollered by the weight of 'received wisdom' and media consensus. 'Things just happen out there in the American media, and we consumers don't need to be told the why of anything', he observes. Unsuprisingly, his attempts to publish an essay on 11 September met with failure in his native USA.
Clairview (2002) ISBN 1902636384
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Theater of War
Lewis Lapham £12.95 hardback
Essays by Lewis Lapham, author, political commentator, & editor of Harper's Magazine). With his customary intelligence and wit he shows that the recent imperial behaviour of the United States government is perfectly consistent with the practice of past administrations. Almost alone among mainstream commentators he has had the courage to question the motive and feasibility, as well as the imperial pretension, of the Bush administration's infinite crusade against the world's evildoers.
The New Press (2002) ISBN 1565847725
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The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Christopher Hitchens £8.00
Christopher Hitchens brings damning evidence against President Nixon's
security adviser and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, that might or should form the legal basis for a
prosecution for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law,
including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap & torture.
The allegations include:
1. The deliberate mass killings of civilians in Indochina.
2. Deliberate collusion in mass murder, and later in assassination, in Bangladesh.
3. The personal suborning and planning of murder, of a senior constitutional officer in a democratic nation
- Chile - with whom the United States was not at war.
4. Personal involvement in a plan to murder the head of state in the democratic nation of Cyprus.
5. The incitement and enabling of genocide in East Timor.
A
devastating indictment of a man whose ambition and ruthlessness have directly resulted in both individual
murders and widespread, indiscriminate slaughter.
Verso (2001) ISBN 1859843980
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Another American Century? The United States and the World After 2000
Nicholas Guyatt £9.99
At the opening of the 21st century the United States exerts a profound influence far beyond its borders. This book offers a roadmap to this new era of U.S. pre-eminence, drawing on the experiences of the past decade to outline the effects and consequences of America's formidable power. In addition, this book looks at how U.S. policy makers understand their role in the world, and the ideologies which enable them to pursue policies with often such disastrous consequences for people outside America.
Zed Books (2000) ISBN 1856497801
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Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
William Blum £21.99
A look at the effects, often devastating, that the U.S. military's and the CIA's little adventures around the globe have had on the political stability and peoples of the countries they meddled in. In not one case documented has the result been greater freedom or newfound peace. Among the CIA's own files and those of other intelligence agencies around the world, Blum has found:
- hard evidence that a CIA unit was set up to train Uruguayan police in the finer points of torture
- how operatives conducted a campaign to unseat an Australian Prime Minister who was opposed to war
- how in Zaire, Mobutu was installed and supported
"The single most useful summary of CIA history"
John Stockwell, former CIA officer & author
Black Rose Books (1998) ISBN 1551640961
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Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938
Stephen E. Ambrose & Douglas G. Brinkley £8.99
Incorporating the most recent scholarship, this is the 8th revised edition of this classic survey. It offers a concise and informative overview of the evolution of American foreign policy from 1938 to the present, focusing on such pivotal events as World War 2, the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, and the SALT treaties. Ambrose and Brinkley also closely examine such recent topics as the Iran-Contra scandal, free elections in Nicaragua, the rise of international terrorism, the fall of Communism, the Gulf War, the crisis in Bosnia, and President Clinton's international trade policy. They analyse how American economic aggressiveness, racism and fear of Communism have shaped the country's evolving foreign policy.
Penguin (1997) ISBN 0140268316
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