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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Deathby Norman Solomon
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key "perception management" techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war.
War Made Easy is essential reading. It documents a long series of deliberate misdeeds at the highest levels of power and lays out important guidelines to help readers distinguish a propaganda campaign from actual news reporting. With War Made Easy, every reader can become a savvy media critic and, perhaps, help the nation avoid costly and unnecessary wars. Book News Annotation:Many critics of the invasion and occupation of Iraq are as inclined
to blame the media as they are President Bush, given the uncritical
echoing of the administration's pro-war propaganda points by the
fourth estate. Long-time media critic Solomon (executive director,
Institute for Public Accuracy) goes even further by showing how the
US media has served the same agenda for decades and by deconstructing
the main themes found in the media's coverage of war and peace,
themes that manufacture enough consent among the American public that
president after president is able to engage the nation in unnecessary
wars. These themes include the "Hitlerization" of the official enemy,
the playing up of putative humanitarian motivations, ignoring or
downplaying such factors as oil and corporate profits, describing
opposition to the war as support of the enemy, the inherent heroism
of our soldiers versus theirs, and the humane practices of the US
military.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Review:"Solomon is one of the sharpest media-watchers in the business." Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed Review:"Brutally persuasive...a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come." Los Angeles Times Review:"Solomon's timely analysis...provides the public, analysts, and journalists with useful tips on how to evaluate the prewar messages of any administration, current or historical." Library Journal Review:"An engaging book that helps explain how the myth-making machine works." The Texas Observer Review:"If you want to help prevent another war (Iran? Syria?), read War Made Easy now. This is a stop-the-presses book filled with mind-blowing facts about Washington's warmongers who keep the Pentagon budget rising. It would be funny if people weren't dying. War Made Easy exposes the grisly game and offers the information we need to stop it." Jim Hightower, author of Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush Review:"If you don't have fun reading Norman Solomon's War Made Easy, you don't know how to have a good time. This exceptional book will drive our leaders bonkers and their mouthpieces in the U.S. press crazier than they are already. Read one passage each night to your children to protect them from the brain-snatchers and dummy-fication zombies of America's news media of the living dead." Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy Review:"America's mainstream media didn't launch the war on Iraq, but the Bush administration sure couldn't have waged it without them. The great lesson of War Made Easy is that, alas, such journalistic malfeasance is nothing new; our media has a history of enabling Washington's foreign misadventures. Perhaps if enough people read — and act on — this book, it won't be so easy next time." Mark Hertsgaard, author of On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency Review:"Norman Solomon is one of the bravest and best American journalists, especially when he is dissecting the topics of war and the media. War Made Easy exposes and explains the lies and deceptions that have misled our nation into vile and bloody disasters from Vietnam to El Salvador to Iraq; it reveals the frequent cowardice and culpability of the U.S. media that often behaves as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. A sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss." John Stauber, coauthor of Weapons of Mass Deception Synopsis:Many people were appalled by the Bush administration's blatant propagandizing in the run-up to the Iraq war. But what they don't realize, according to media critic Norman Solomon, is that pro-war propaganda has a long history and almost formulaic quality in the United States. From Vietnam to Iraq, American combat-ready spin has almost invariably compared our foe to Hitler, identified our enemy as the aggressor, and said that we were doing everything possible diplomatically to avoid conflict. With this illuminating book, readers will find it easier to see through propaganda — and foresee the next war. Synopsis:Advance Praise for War Made Easy "If you want to help prevent another war (Iran? Syria?), read War Made Easy now. This is a stop-the-presses book filled with mind-blowing facts about Washington's warmongers who keep the Pentagon budget rising. It would be funny if people weren't dying. War Made Easy exposes the grisly game and offers the information we need to stop it." —Jim Hightower, author of Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush "If you don't have fun reading Norman Solomon's War Made Easy, you don't know how to have a good time. This exceptional book will drive our bonkers leaders and their mouthpieces in the U.S. press crazier than they are already. Read one passage each night to your children to protect them from the brain-snatchers and dummy-fication zombies of America's news media of the living dead." —Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy "America's mainstream media didn't launch the war on Iraq, but the Bush administration sure couldn't have waged it without them. The great lesson of War Made Easy is that, alas, such journalistic malfeasance is nothing new; our media has a history of enabling Washington's foreign misadventures. Perhaps if enough people read—and act on—this book, it won't be so easy next time." —Mark Hertsgaard, author of On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency "Norman Solomon is one of the bravest and best American journalists, especially when he is dissecting the topics of war and the media. War Made Easy exposes and explains the lies and deceptions that have misled our nation into vile and bloody disasters from Vietnam to El Salvador to Iraq; it reveals the frequent cowardice and culpability of the U.S. media that often behaves as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. A sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss." —John Stauber, coauthor of Weapons of Mass Deception About the AuthorNorman Solomon is a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts. His columns have appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and USA Today. Solomon has appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal and Book TV, and has been a guest on various National Public Radio programs. His last book, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, has been translated into Italian, German, Hungarian, and Korean. Table of ContentsPrologue: Building Agendas for War 1. America Is a Fair and Noble Superpower 2. Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War 3. Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies 4. This Guy Is a Modern-Day Hitler 5. This Is about Human Rights 6. This Is Not at All about Oil or Corporate Profits 7. They Are the Aggressors, Not Us 8. If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It 9. If This War Is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us 10. Media Coverage Brings War into Our Living Rooms 11. Opposing the War Means Siding with the Enemy 12. This Is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism 13. What the U.S. Government Needs Most Is Better PR 14. The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible 15. Our Soldiers Are Heroes, Theirs Are Inhuman 16. America Needs the Resolve to Kick the "Vietnam Syndrome" 17. Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility Afterword Notes Acknowledgments Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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