by Barbara Dudley

There has been a great crop of excellent political books by prolific authors over the last few years. How is one to choose among the best books to read? I have placed in separate boxes recent books that tackle topics and issues from different ideological angles and approaches, so the reader can choose the books he or she would prefer to read first.

• Consult these 4 Great Progressive Sites:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info /index.html

http://www.Antiwar.com/

http://www.Democrats.com/

http://www.TheNewAmericanEmpire.com/

• FIRST BOX: IMPERIALISM AND MILITARISM:

What's behind American militarism? Why is the U.S., with less than 5% of the world population, responsible for 50% of all international expenditures on defense? Why are there 25 million retired military personnel in the U.S.? What political impact does such a large block of voters depending on the military budget have on national politics? These books answer these questions.

1- The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War

2- The New American Empire

3- Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire

4- Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions

5- New Mandarins of American Power: The Bush Administration's Plans for the World

6- American Power and World Order

7- American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy

• SECOND BOX: DEMOCRACY AND IMPERIALISM:

Why is imperialism is the enemy of democracy? Why does imperialism, which is the power of the few over the many through force, require a concentration of power at the top? Why is an external threat often a pretext to suspend individual liberties at home? What are the economic roots of imperialism? These books answer these questions.

8- Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism

9- The Imperial Tense : Prospects and Problems of American Empire

10- Imperialism

11- Empire

12- After Hegemony

13- Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

14-An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire

15- Global Sense: Awakening Our Personal Power for Democracy and World Peace

16- Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire

17- Reforging The White Republic: Race, Religion, And American Nationalism, 1865-1898

18- The Open: Man and Animal

19- Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life

• THIRD BOX: THE U.S. AND THE WORLD:

Is there a clash of civilizations between different cultures and different religions? Why so much cruelty toward other human beings? Why is humankind so primitive? Is paranoia getting a grip on America? Is there a link between terrorism and imperialism? These books answer these questions.

20- The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order

21- Colossus: The Price of America's Empire

22- Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet

23- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

24- Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror

25- Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror

26- Chain of Command : The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib

27- Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World

• FOURTH BOX: THE COSTS OF IMPERIALISM:

The 19th Century was a century of imperialism and of imperial wars. Why is the 21st Century beginning as a throwback to the past? What will be the political and economic consequences? These books answer these questions.

28- The Sorrows of Empire : Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic

29- Blowback : The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

30- Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance

31- Empire's New Clothes: Reading Hardt and Negri

• FIFTH BOX: NEO-FASCIST LITTERATURE:

The Neocons are pro-war and pro-empire. Why? Are they supremacists beside being militarists? Are they too close to Israel? Are they a danger to the United States and to the world just as the Nazis were a danger to Germany and to the world? These books help us understand the Neocons' approach and their objectives.

32- An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror

33- Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy

34- Hating America : The New World Sport

35- The French Betrayal of America

• SIXTH BOX: AGAINST THE NEOCONSERVATIVES:

True conservatives disapprove of the neocon ideology of a big and militarized government. They disapprove of big deficits and huge public debts. They disapprove of the push toward empire building. What are the intellectual links between trotskyism and neoconservatism? These books answer these questions.

36- America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order by Halpe

37- Where the Right Went Wrong

38- America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order

39- Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire

40- Leo Strauss and the American Right

• SEVENTH BOX: FROM THE INSIDE:

Why did the Bush II administration turn neocon? What's going on in the Bush II White House? Is George W. Bush worse than Richard Nixon? These books answer these questions.

41- Plan of Attack

42- Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush

• EIGHTH BOX: NATIONAL STRATEGY AND GEOPOLITICS:

Can humanity survive with so many stockpiles of nuclear arms and the coming militarization of space? How to avoid the coming energy crisis? How is the population explosion threatening the stability of Western democracies? These books answer these questions.

43- Closing of the American mind

44- The End of Oil : On the Edge of a Perilous New World

45- The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

46- Hubbert's Peak : The Impending World Oil Shortage

47- Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil

48- Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict

49- Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster

50- The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization

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Products mentioned include:

'The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War'

'The New American Empire'