Books
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TROPIC OF CHAOS “To read this disturbing, indeed frightening book is to appreciate fully the fix we’re in. On the one hand is a looming planetary crisis, the product of climate change, resource scarcity, and widespread poverty. On the other hand is the misguided conviction, to which Americans in particular cling, that military power, deftly employed, will insulate the developed world from these problems. It won’t, Christian Parenti argues. He’s right. We can’t say we weren’t warned.” “A richly investigated and original account of the role climate change is already playing in contemporary conflicts. This glimpse of the future we most fear arrives just in time to change course.” “Tropic of Chaos is a penetrating look both at natural disasters and the humans that make them happen. This engrossing, deeply researched account takes us on a journey around the globe to uncover the social production of catastrophe. A book that’s hard to ignore, and difficult to put down.” This important book highlights a new dimension of climate change. It’s not only about the loss of biodiversity, glaciers, and island states, but also about a new era of conflict, violence, and chaos. Parenti shows us how climate change already produces war and aggresion. But he also invites us to think about real and structural alternatives to unbridled capitalism and runaway climate change.” “Christian Parenti’s exhaustively researched Tropic of Chaos presents a disturbing idea: that the species which caused the climate crisis will be the one most affected by it. This powerful book charts how climate-driven violence is already taking hold. If we don’t act with urgency, a troubled future awaits us.” REVIEWS
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THE FREEDOM “Fast-paced and scenic like a good film script, is steeped in the irony and horror of war.” “When…historians of tomorrow start writing, they will doubtless have copies of The Freedom close at hand.” “For those who desire a taste of what occupied Iraq feels and smells and tastes like for the war correspondents, soldiers and Iraqis dealing with the mess that is “free” Iraq, The Freedom is essential reading.”
“[Parenti] has an eye for the perfect image, a wonderful ear for dialogue and a prose style that floats across the page.”
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THE SOFT CAGE“A chillingly inclusive look at the history of surveillance in the United States. From the crude handwritten tracking records of African American slaves in the antebellum South to the uses of early photography to today’s insatiable computers, the author shows surveillance starting as a trickle and becoming a stream that has grown into a raging river.” Parenti has created a series of historical vignettes, from the use of slave passes to control African Americans in the Old South to the rise of fingerprinting to keep track of criminals to the use of identification cards to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act. The book, though, is at its best when dealing with the steady encroachments of modern technology on individual privacy. Surveillance cameras monitor us in our schools, workplaces, parks and highways. With ATMs, credit cards, Internet ‘cookies,’ cell phones, global positioning systems and EZ-Pass, modern Americans leave electronic footprints wherever they go.” “As Parenti ably describes it, the history of surveillance moves from slaves to immigrants to political radicals to criminals to the poor to workers, and then to anyone with a credit card and a computer…A provocative book that is a must-read for those interested in privacy rights and the present war on terrorism.” “The Soft Cage chronicles the history of surveillance to support his point…Truly spooky.”
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LOCKDOWN AMERICA“Terrifying, informative and gripping.” “Exhaustively documented…deserves a full hearing from anyone serious about ending the often horrific realities of the criminal justice system.” “In the best tradition of investigative journalism, paced like a fine novel, it carries the authority of meticulous academic research.” “Lockdown America is a fast read, angry and compelling.” “Parenti’s are flames of light not heat. He makes complete sense.”
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