Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia by Michael Parenti ISBN: 1-85984-366-2 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.27 (33 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Phenomenal and Groundbreaking
Comment: The United States along with other western powers demonized the Serbs and socialist Yugoslavia. Being accused of running death camps (which was a fraudulent charge), and perpetrating a systematic policy of mass rape and mass murder, the idea the Serbs were little more than monsters was inculcated into the minds of citizens throughout the entire industrialized world. In this incredible dissection of the Yugoslavian conflict, Parenti proves the corporate capitalist press (NY Times, AP, Washinton Post, BBC, major TV networks, etc.) rarely wavered in their goal of demonizing the Serbs while virtually ignoring atrocities committed by the pseudo-fascist Croatian forces and Bosnian Muslim forces. As To Kill a Nation points out, Croatian forces massacred Serb civilians fleeing for their lives into Bosnia. At the time Croatia was headed by that minimizer of the Jewish Holocaust: Tudjman - a strong ally of the United States.
Parenti makes it clear the reason Milosevic and the Serbs were and are the targets for demonization is because they were the most resolute against allowing the FRY to be laid open and exploited by international investors, and the IMF and World Bank.
To Kill a Nation unearths fascinating sources pointing out the integral role western intelligence agencies played in financing the secessionist organizations during the 90s - obviously this would work to destabilize the successful mixed socialist economy of Yugoslavia. Wanting to institute free-market reforms, which have wrought misery and ruined lives throughout Eastern Europe over the past decade, the western powers hit on the concept of destabilization in order to do away with the solidarity felt by much of the FRY population.
The key quotes and sources Parenti displays are nothing short of amazing and astounding. During the siege of Sarajevo, which turned much of global opinion against the Serbs, he demonstrates that it was the Bosnian Muslim forces that consistently started the daily bombings and disallowed safe passage to civilians. There's even documentation of Bosnian Muslim snipers secretly firing on citizens in order to lay the blame on Serb forces. The highly touted "genocide" at Srebrenica and Trepca are touched on and quickly proven to be much ado about very little; that is very little compared to the sensationalistic saturation coverage the stories enjoyed. The book shows that Srebrenica and Trepca were not much more than propaganda stories aimed at manipulating public opinion.
When To Kill a Nation turns its sights to NATO's alliance with the organized mobsters, drug dealers and gun runners of the Kosovo Liberation Army, it delves into a rarely analyzed area of world affairs. Parenti astutely broaches the topic of the myriad laws broken when NATO bombed the infrastructure, social capital and political quarters of Yugoslavia. NATO's obliteration of the FRY's socialist economy served a rational class interest for western ruling elites and investors. To Kill a Nation mentions the sad fact that many well minded liberal intellectuals were suckered into jumping on the Serb and Milosevic demonization train and some even countenanced the bombing.
Parenti documents that most of the human rights abuses attributed to the Serbs were committed primarily by the Chetnik paramilitaries who often acted outside the control of top military brass. Some analysts claim the paramilitaries task was not easy due to the difficulty in distinguishing the enemy. To Kill a Nation does a masterful job in pointing out the biases and difficulties faced by the Serbs and anyone else in the FRY determined to keep democratic socialism intact. In fact it's crucial to remember Milosevic was elected in a fair and open contest.
Parenti's book may be the finest work on international politics and economics since Noam Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins. Written in a direct and engaging style, To Kill a Nation is one of Verso Publishing's best offerings to date.
Rating: 5
Summary: Rock and a Hard Place
Comment: This short book is a courageous gesture on the part of Michael Parenti; certain to anger the right, Parenti just as sharply criticizes the so-called left, taking to task the Greens, NPR and Susan Sontag just to name a few. Perhaps it is this assurance of condemnation from all sides that makes it so imperative that this book be read.
This is a horror story of course, but written with an intelligence and passion that makes the book very difficult to put down. Relying upon White House and Nato press reports, various mainstream media, first-hand accounts and his own visit to the war-torn country, Parenti attempts to tell the untold about a war, the media coverage of which has become a history of retractions and unsustained claims.
This book is as much about media as it is about politics, a fact that bares considering given some of the reviews below, several of which seem to promote an ideology rather than address the book itself. This is unfortunate given the lengths to which Parenti goes to state repeatedly that "Again, it cannot be said too many times: to reject the demonized image of Milosevic and of the Serbian people is not to idealize either nor claim that Yugoslav forces have not committed crimes. It is merely to challenge the one-sided propaganda that laid the grounds for the imperialist dismemberment of Yugoslavia and NATO's far greater criminal onslaught" (186).
To see how Parenti goes about defending this assertion one must read the book. Academic and yet very lucidly written, the book is as unsettling as it is thought-provoking. Indeed, it is convincing, and given the recent arrest of Milosevic and continuing tensions in the region, extremely pertinent.
Rating: 1
Summary: Worthless reading
Comment: What a waste of time this book is! A worthless reading full of incredulous conspiracy theories.
 |
Title: The Terrorism Trap: September 11 and Beyond by Michael Parenti ISBN: 0872864057 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
 |
Title: Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, Nato, and Western Delusions by Diana Johnstone ISBN: 158367084X Publisher: Monthly Review Press Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: History As Mystery by Michael Parenti ISBN: 0872863573 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome by Michael Parenti ISBN: 1565847970 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Dirty Truths: Reflections on Politics, Media, Ideology, Conspiracy, Ethnic Life and Class Power by Michael Parenti ISBN: 0872863174 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
