My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America
Called "one of the best reporters of our time" by Joan Didion, Robert Scheer brings a lifetime of journalistic acuity to his impassioned call for a new way of thinking about national defense. He describes the useless weapons we manufacture; the quiet expansion of our military presence throughout the world; the insanity of our nuclear strategy; the immorality of c...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
June 18th 2009
by Twelve
(first published June 9th 2008)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
79)
Any book who's first chapter is titled "The Gift of 9/11" is going to strike a chord with me.
Robert explores how the tragedy of 9/11/2001 was exploited by a few to reap significant profits. The numbers are baffling, but seem drawn from well known sources: $2.5 billion each for new nuclear subs, $300 billion for the F-35 project, nearly a hundred extra Globemasters produced beyond what the air force asked for or needed.
The style of the book reminded me of George ...more
Robert explores how the tragedy of 9/11/2001 was exploited by a few to reap significant profits. The numbers are baffling, but seem drawn from well known sources: $2.5 billion each for new nuclear subs, $300 billion for the F-35 project, nearly a hundred extra Globemasters produced beyond what the air force asked for or needed.
The style of the book reminded me of George ...more
With 4000 American soldiers killed and $500 billion spent, now might be a good time to employ the "cut and run" strategy those hawkish caricatures on the right have been robotically lampooning and, then, it wouldn't hurt to apologize to our hosts on the way out. As Mike Gravel soberingly put it, we can walk into a Baskin Robbins in Hanoi and buy ourselves an ice cream cone, or, in other words, so much for losing that other war... But The Pornography of Power isn't about why we're fight...more
If you miss Robert Scheer syndicated column in the San Francisco Chronicle, this book is for you. If that is not enough, try http://www.truthdig.com/
Lucky for Walnut Creek that Scheer spoke at the local Unitarian Church last April!
Lucky for Walnut Creek that Scheer spoke at the local Unitarian Church last April!
I wasn't surprised by a lot in this book, being a died in the wool liberal. However, I was impressed with the breadth of research Robert Sheer went to to put together this very cogent argument.
view all 3 comments
A good oversight of where the military industrial complex is today.
I listen to Scheer on NPR's Left, Right and Center, where he represents the Left. In PofP, Scheer exposes the corrupt relationship between Defense Contractors and the Federal government, showing it to be a pervasive and bipartisan problem. I might have given it 4 stars if Scheer had included footnotes, a significant oversight for this kind of expose.
This is a mustread book if you are trying to find out why our defense budget dwarfs everything else.
Must read about the military-industrial underpinnings of Iraq
I'm sure he's right, but too much of a rant.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The PBC Minute: Robert Scheer (video) | 1 | 3 | Jun 23, 2009 08:54am |
Robert Scheer is an American journalist who writes a column for Truthdig which is nationally syndicated in publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle and The Nation. He teaches communications as a professor at the University of Southern California and is Editor in Chief for the online magazine Truthdig.
Scheer was born to immigrant parents. His mother, a Russian Jew, and his fathe...more
More about Robert Scheer...
Scheer was born to immigrant parents. His mother, a Russian Jew, and his fathe...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
