In the months after September 11, titles like 'The End of the Age of Irony' abound in our media. Liberals and conservatives proclaim the end of the American holiday from history. Now the easy games are over; one should take sides. Zizek argues this is precisely the temptation to be resisted. In such moments of apparently clear choices, the real alternatives are most hidden. Welcome to the Desert of the Real steps back, complicating the choices imposed on us. It proposes that global capitalism is fundamentalist and that America was complicit in the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. It points to our dreaming about the catastrophe in numerous disaster movies before it happened, and explores the irony that the tragedy has been used to legitimize torture. Last but not least it analyses the fiasco of the predominant leftist response to the events. About the series: Appearing on the first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these series of books from Verso present analyses of the United States, the media, and the events surrounding September 11 by Europe's most stimulating and provocative philosophers. Probing beneath the level of TV commentary, political and cultural orthodoxies, and 'rent-a-quote' punditry, Baudrillard, Virilio, and Zizek offer three highly original and readable accounts that serve as fascinating introductions to the direction of their respective projects, and as insightful critiques of the unfolding events. This series seeks to comprehend the philosophical meaning of September 11 and will leave untouched none of the prevailing views currently propagated.
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Bruce Ackerman shows how the institutional dynamics of the last half-century have transformed the American presidency into a potential platform for political extremism and lawlessness. Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the War on Terror are only symptoms of deeper pathologies. Ackerman points to a series of developments that have previously been treated independently of one another - from the rise of presidential primaries, to the role of pollsters and media gurus, to the centralization of power in White House czars, to the politicization of the military, to the manipulation of constitutional doctrine to justify presidential power-grabs. He shows how these different transformations can interact to generate profound constitutional crises in the twenty-first century - and then proposes a series of reforms that will minimize, if not eliminate, the risks going forward. The book aims to begin a new constitutional debate. Americans should not suppose that Barack Obama's centrism and constitutionalism will typify the presidencies of the twenty-first century. We should seize the present opportunity to confront deeper institutional pathologies before it is too late.
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'Explosive' Guardian 'Sensational' Daily Telegraph
'The book . . . carries unusual authority since it was written by Ron Suskind, one of America's most respected and best-informed investigative reporters. Chilling . . . Suskind's book also paints a fascinating picture of the tense, unreliable nature of US-Saudi co-operation on counter-terrorism' INDEPENDENT
'Many useful nuggets of information' MORNING STAR
'Chilling' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Valuable . . . That it works as well as it does is testimony to the author's narrative skills' INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
'Riveting . . . [Suskind's book] adds some big, revealing chunks to the evolving jigsaw-puzzle portrait of this White House and its modus operandi, while also giving the reader some up close and personal looks at the government's day-to-day operations in the war on terror' NEW YORK TIMES
'This is an important book, filled with the surest sign of great reporting: the unexpected. It enriches our understanding of even familiar episodes from the Bush administration's war on terror and tells some jaw-dropping stories we haven't heard before . . . gripping . . . impressively reported . . . Full of amazing, persuasively detailed vignettes about [the terror-fighter's] world'
ASHINGTON POST
'Living in Washington DC, I find a new political tract in my mail every other day, but Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine remains memorable, and disheartening'
Alice McDermott, Irish Times 12/12
Praise for Bush's Brain "Love him or hate him, Karl Rove is one of the most brilliant and successful political consultants of all time. In this riveting account, Wayne Slater and Jim Moore tell how he got there."
–Paul Begala, CNN’s Crossfire "Bush’s Brain isn’t a hatchet job on George W. Bush. In fact, the two authors largely dispel the myth of Bush’s supposedly deficient IQ. But, more importantly, they lay bare the story of how Karl Rove may be the most powerful man in America. It’s a compelling story told by two veteran Texas journalists who don’t need a briefing packet to understand the men they’re writing about."
–Philip Bruce, KCET/PBS Television, Los Angeles The most powerful individual in the United States may not be George W. Bush. It is probably Karl Rove, the President’s brilliant advisor. Who is this man and how did he acquire so much power? Having watched in awe for over fifteen years as they reported on the rise of Karl Rove, Moore and Slater expose the brutal and sometimes morally questionable, but invariably effective ways in which Karl Rove–and America’s political system–actually operate.
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Hardcover
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