Failed States: The Abuse Of Power and the Assault On Democracy
by Noam Chomsky
In Failed States, Noam Chomsky describes how the elite of the United States have long claimed the right to interfere with the affairs of other countries (like overthrowing governments or assassinating heads of state) without accountability for their actions.
Starting with his opposition of the Vietnam War, he has been a consistent thorn in the side of several US presidential administrations. In Failed States, Chomsky argues that the U.S. government has long denied that its actions abroad are subject to international law. While the unilateral actions of the Bush administration during the invasion of Iraq are an extreme example, past presidential administrations have interfered with the domestic affairs of other countries for over a hundred years.
Nor is the war on terrorism particularly new as a reason for unilateral actions abroad, according to Noam Chomsky. The same justification was used 20 years previously for actions such as the invasion of Panama. However, while terrorism was used to justify actions such as invasions and torture, he presents evidence that combating terrorism has never been a high priority for the Bush administration, except as a means of instilling fear among American citizens.
Noam Chomsky further states that the United States shares some of the characteristics of failed states like Afghanistan. According to him, the gap between the issues important to average Americans and those of the political elite is vast. The recent success of the tea party movement in the United States is probably evidence of the distrust that many Americans have of their own government.
Though somewhat over the top, Failed States is hard to dismiss - it will get any reader thinking. Find it at the Bob Harkins Branch in the non-fiction area.
-- Reviewed by John Shepherd, former trustee
for the Prince George Public Library Board
Vertical
by Rex Pickett
Readers may be familiar with the 2004 movie Sideways, starring Paul Giamatti. But before it was a movie, and it was a book - and this particular novel, Vertical, picks up seven years after Sideways leaves off.
By now, the tables have completely turned.
Miles (Paul Giamatti) is now a smashing success.
He's published a book, turned it into a hit movie, and is single-handedly responsible for making wine sales go through the roof. Because of his success, Miles is paid generous sums of money to be the guest speaker at various wine events - and collects bottle after bottle of excellent wine from
vintners desperate for a mention in his next book.
But Miles is still the good son, and he's concerned about his mother's well-being. She has survived a stroke and is living in a miserable nursing home.
She can't even have her beloved dog Snapper with her there.
Cue another harebrained road trip! With Jack as his divorced, unemployed, alcoholic co-pilot, Miles leases a handicapped-equipped rampvan, hires a pot-smoking Filipina caretaker and, with his mother's rascally Yorkie in tow, they head off for Wisconsin, where Miles's mom can live with her sister. Along the way, they stop in many a vineyard for the usual shenanigans.
Readers get the palpable sense that Vertical isn't a novel, it's a thinly veiled autobiography. The parallels between the author and his protagonists are too similar to ignore. We think Miles would recommend you uncork a nice bottle of Pinot Noir and settle into a comfortable chair to drink up this middle-aged adventure tale by Rex Pickett. It's available in the adult fiction section of the Prince George Public Library.
-- Reviewed by Marty James, catalogue technician at the Prince George Public Library
