Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11

by Paul Street

Overview

"This is an impressive collection: well-informed, well-written, covering highly important topics over an impressive range, with no hesitation about taking an honest stand that gets right to the heart of the matter in case after case." Noam Chomsky A frequent columnist in Z magazine, Black Commentator, and other magazines, Paul Street has closely monitored the deterioration of civil liberties since 9/11. In his new book, Street challenges the widely accepted notion that 'everything changed' on 9/11. The event of 9/11 changed the lives of thousands of people in tragic and lasting ways, but some things it did not drastically alter were the long-term goals of the Bush administration. Rather, the terrorist attacks offered a way for them to fully realize these goals, through waging war against fictional enemies abroad and against civil liberties at home. By pointing out rampant injustices in society and doggedly pursuing the blatant contradictions in current government policies, Street reveals a very different America than the government or media portray. Empire and Inequality shows how the jetliner attacks provided a windfall opportunity to accelerate pre-existing trends towards greater global and domestic hierarchy, inequality, and repression. Street shows how the elites of American government and business used classic propaganda mechanisms in pursuit of this regressive and authoritarian agenda in the "post-9/11 era." Street offers a cogent critique of the myth of the powerless state, showing that U.S. government's cup runs over when it comes to serving the wealthy and privileged few and is empty only when it comes to meeting the needs of the non-affluent majority. Empire and Inequality is a powerful reflection on the inseparable, deepening, and mutually reinforcing relationships that exist between empire abroad and inequality and repression at home in the "post 9/11 era."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594510595
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/30/2004
Series:	Cultural Politics & the Promise of Democracy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Part I Our Tears, Their Opportunity; intro1; Chapter 1 Misunderstanding Power: Explaining the Popularity of 9/11 Conspiracy Theories June 6, 2002; Chapter 2 Defending Civilization and the Myth of Radical Academia July 15, 2002; Chapter 3 Toward a “Decent Left”? Liberal-Left Misrepresentation and Selective Targeting of Left Commentary on 9/11 July 1, 2002; Chapter 4 Who Is the Real Criminal: Johnny Taliban or Donny Pentagon? October 18, 2002; Chapter 5 Our Tears, Their Opportunity October 21, 2002; Chapter 6 Who Hates America? April 9, 2003; Part II Masters Marching to War; intro2; Chapter 7 Big Brother Bush, “Suicidal” Saddam, and the Homegrown Threat to Liberal Democracy January 22, 2003; Chapter 8 State of Deception: How Stupid Does the Bush Gang Think We Are? January 28, 2003; Chapter 9 Citizens or Spectators? Democracy Versus Empire on the Eve of “Inevitable War” February 7, 2003; Chapter 10 It’s the Empire, Stupid February 13, 2003; Chapter 11 Broadcast Priorities: Corporate Media Versus Democracy in the Streets February 15, 2003; Chapter 12 “Ungrateful”? America, France, Hitler, and Debts of History February 20, 2003; Chapter 13 Moments of Truth, Masters of War March 17, 2003; Chapter 14 Resist Despair March 25, 2003; Chapter 15 Bad War: Read “All About It” in the Establishment Press March 30, 2003; Chapter 16 “Down the Memory Hole” with Weapons of Mass Destruction April 11, 2003; Chapter 17 Rachel Corrie, Jessica Lynch, and the Unequal Worthiness of Victims May 12, 2003; Chapter 18 It Hurts to Kill: “Like I Just Did What the Lord Says Not to Do” May 12, 2003; Chapter 19 Systematic Distortion: Nonrandom Material Falsification and the White House Agenda August 27, 2003; Part III “The Beacon to the World of the Way Life Should Be”; intro3; Chapter 20 The Readily Available Reality of American Policy in an Age of Empire and Inequality January 9, 2003; Chapter 21 Just Don’t Call It “Class Warfare”: Invisible Neighborhoods, Irrelevant People from Chicago to Baghdad January 16, 2003; Chapter 22 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall … March 8, 2003; Chapter 23 Deep Poverty, Deep Deception: Facts That Matter Beneath the Imperial Helicopters (Comments to the Illinois Welfare Reform Symposium) June 17, 2003; Chapter 24 Forbidden Connections: Class, Cowardice, and War July 24, 2003;