World, Beware!: American Triumphalism in an Age of Terror

by Theodore Roszak

Asking whether there is any way to make the United States responsible to a global constituency, this deconstruction of America's international relations following the World Trade Center attacks of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1897071027
• ISBN13: 9781897071021
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Between the Lines(CA)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Well-written look at American global policy and the forces behind it

I'm surprised to see just a single review of this book, but as it is aimed at the world outside the US, perhaps it hasn't been promoted much inside the country. With a wealth of experience behind him, Roszak explains to the non-American exactly how the US is run today, which forces are behind modern America, and what their future objectives are. This is no Bush-basher, as the scope of the book is far wider than just a single administration. It's about a unique and unlikely combination of forces which guided US policy-making at the time of writing, and by implication still does in a reduced fashion under the new administration - imperialist triumphalists, cut-throat corporados, and Christian fundamentalists. Few could ever have predicted that shrewd money-men would ever make sleeping partners with religionists, who worship a man who once claimed that these same money-men had a better chance of passing through the eyes of a needle than reaching paradise. Yet, perhaps that's just the attraction - cooperate now that they have similar goals (e.g. a Middle-East expansion on politico-economic and religious grounds), in the knowledge that when all's done and gone, the religionists won't be bothered by the corporados in heaven, as they'd all be burning in hell with the triumphalists. Whatever, it's an amazing example of the unpredictability of history that a party, the Republicans, should count amongst their strongest states those very ones who'd traditionally opposed them so long in war and peace. Roszak's short but intelligent analysis is interesting for those outside the US with just an average knowledge of American internal affairs, and far from being a dry political analysis, makes entertaining reading too.

Gives a new slant to our creeping fascism

This little book by one of America's most distinguished social critics was rejected by every U.S. publisher it was sent to, and was allowed to see the light of day only thanks to German, French, and Canadian publishers. That underscores the very theme of the book itself, namely that the U.S. is undergoing a radical transformation that has put it on the road to fascism. Roszak is hardly the first to point this out, but he IS the first to explain it to the rest of the world. Indeed, that is the primary audience and the primary purpose of his book. He lucidly attributes the transformation to a confluence of three forces: the corporate elite, the neoconservative intelligentsia, and the radical religious fundamentalists. Given the combined power of these three factions and the weakness of the liberal opposition, he has little faith that America can be saved from within. Instead, he hopes the international community of nations will come to America's rescue. To that end, World, Beware! is addressed to a broad international audience, giving it a special tenor unlike any of its many competitors.