Roy, Arundhati

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Wow.
One of the best books
A Charming Novel
Love it or leave it...
Couldn't get through it...

The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060977493

Amazon.com

In her first novel, award-winning Indian screenwriter Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely; it is the product of a genius child-mind that takes everything in and transforms it in an alchemy of poetry. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that's completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.

Book Description

The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

Customer Reviews:

Wow........2007-06-18

I first heard about Arundhati Roy from her spoken word album "Come September", which I reccomend to all of you. After discussing the book a bit on that album, I immediately went and bought it. This is a great book. It reads so quickly, but almost needs to be read slowly to simply savor the beautiful language. The author describes people and locations with amazing precision and texture. The story weaves in and out of different timelines, but everything connects perfectly. This book will change your life.

One of the best books.......2007-06-11

I love this book. I love the way it is written and the story that is told.
This is one of the few books that I have bought numerous copies to give to others. I highly suggest giving this book a chance.

A Charming Novel.......2007-05-29

India has always seemd like an exotic, chaotic place to me. After reading this book, it has become more real; a country populated by people not that different from myself. Their ambitions, heartbreaks, and loves will be recognizable to almost anyone. I rarely find a book so riveting.

Love it or leave it..........2007-05-17

I think a lot of people either really loved this book or hated it. It just didn't appeal to me. I didn't like how slow it was or how the story was revolved around that silly secret. I read this after reading a lot of Rohinton Mistry though. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it just wasn't for me.

Couldn't get through it..........2007-04-26

I've tried on several occasions to read this and just couldn't get through. I found it slow and tedious, and just couldn't get invested in the characters or the plot (whatever the plot was, since it didn't really seem like there was one). After reading all these great reviews though, I must be missing something...

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A Message for the Ages
state of affairs for india
Politics of Persuasion
I was almost brought to tears.....
Fresh take on globalization

Power Politics
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: South End Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0896086682

Book Description

Arundhati Roy -"India's most impassioned critic of globalization" (New York Times)-has expanded the compelling first edition of Power Politics with two new essays on the U.S. war on terrorism. A Book Sense 76 choice for November/December 2001 and Los Angeles Times "Discoveries" selection, Power Politics challenges the idea that only experts can speak out on such urgent matters as nuclear war, the privatization of India's power supply by U.S.-based energy companies, and the construction of monumental dams in India.

Arundhati Roy, the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things, brings her keen novelist's eye to her analysis of the tragic events of September 11 and the military response, starting with the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.

Customer Reviews:

A Message for the Ages.......2007-04-09

Still wondering if corporations are calling the shots in the global economy? You won't be after reading this book. And don't be fooled because some of the book focuses on India - the same industrializing machinations are at work in every country on the globe. The `power' referred to in the title has to do with dams being built on major rivers throughout the developing world, but the politics of corporate money and influence go far beyond dams.

One of the best parts of reading this book is Roy's consistent use of visual imagery. For example, in the section titled "The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin," Roy makes the following statements:

"(It's common knowledge that water is becoming a scarce resource. One billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water.) The "market" decrees that the scarcer something is, the more expensive it becomes. But there is a difference between valuing water and putting a market value on water. No one values water more than a village woman who has to walk miles to fetch it. No one values it less than urban folk who pay for it to flow endlessly at the turn of a tap."

Roy's passion, intelligence, and commitment to social justice shine throughout every chapter. If you've ever heard her speak, you can imagine her saying the words in her soft voice as you read them.

state of affairs for india.......2006-09-17

This book is the state of affairs for whats happening in India currently(2006) and concludes with a discussion of world affairs and the relationship of India to the world. A very intersesting discussion is presented about outsourcing to India.

Politics of Persuasion.......2006-04-27

I really wanted to give this book a 5 star review. I admire Roy's courage. I think that Power Politics raises some serious questions about globalization, dam development, the war on terror, etc. The style of her writing is also very engaging. I think it keeps the reader off balance and unsure of what will come next, but in a good way that adds to the impact of her writing.

However, I absolutely cannot give this book more than 3 stars for 2 reasons. First, the 5 essays in this book really don't feel like they belong together. Roy starts off talking about her role as a writer, then its on to "Big Dams", then the Indian Supreme Court and finally the war on terrorism. While I think all of these are important topics, Roy did not do a good job of integrating them into one coherent idea.

Secondly, I thought Roy presented some pretty startling statistics in Power Politics, so I did a little fact checking. While some of her statistics definitely check out, others do not. Some of those numbers she throws out without citing any source at all and in one instance she attributes something to a source that is no where in that source! ("Today, a chapter in the India Country Study says the figure [of people displaced by Big Dams in India] could be as high as fifty-six million people." p 67) You can read the study yourself online (dams(dot)org). It never says anything about 56 million people being displaced by Big Dams in India.

Maybe it's a personal pet-peeve, but making up your own numbers and misquoting studies does not fly with me. So read Power Politics if you want to. It is a very engaging book. But I encourage everyone to take Roy's "facts" with a grain of salt.

I was almost brought to tears............2003-11-22

As someone who is admittedly and shamefully, completely ignorant about the current socio-political situation in India, I was nevertheless nearly moved to tears at the heroism of how so many displaced villagers gathered up the courage to protest the outrages of being forced to abandon their homes due to pointless and environmentally-harmful "big dams"

I also felt great outrage over how unfairly Roy was being persecuted by her own government and courts for simply writing what she believes in. However, through her bravery, she never even contemplates leaving her country for greater personal (or economic)security but stays on to fight the good fight. Truly commendable person. And this is a powerful book surely not to be missed.

Fresh take on globalization.......2003-06-02

Arundhati Roy bristles at being called a "writer-activist" (too much like sofa-bed, she says), but the rest of us should be grateful that the author of "The God of Small Things" is taking on the establishment, here and in India.

Part of Mrs. Roy's greatness is that she is not colored by the partisan debates that influence the dialogue on issues such as globalization in America. She is an equal-opportunity critic, taking on Clinton and Bush. Although other authors pledge no allegiance to either side of the aisle, Roy has a fresh perspective, and has a take on globalization that I haven't found in works by American authors.

This book is set up as a collection (a rather random collection) of several essays. The first essay gives a wonderful perspective of globalization (ie. the expansion of American business interests) from a foreign perspective. She examines the impact of the global economic movement on the actual people being affected by it at the lowest level. She reveals the influence of the privatization of the electric industry through the eyes of India's poorest citizens.

The second essay goes in-depth into politics in India, primarily addressing the enormous number of dams being built in the country, and the impacts (economic, environmental, social) that they will have. Mrs. Roy explicitly recounts how Enron scammed the Indian government into building new power generators, and how this will cost India hundreds of millions per year while lining the pockets of American business interests.

Critics will say that "Power Politics" is devoid of hard facts and analysis, but there can be no doubt that this book is worth a read. She may lack the economic background of Stiglitz, but her passion and style, in addition to her ability to articulate the important issues in the globalization debate in a readable manner, will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in global economic expansion.

Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire
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Illogical, Barbaric thoughts translated into writing!

Extremely Hateful and Way too often Presents Completely Incorrect Information.

Imperial mix democracy

America in the eys of the rest of the World

A collection of essays/speeches with overlapping topics

Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0896087271

Book Description

Just in time for the elections, Arundhati Roy offers us this lucid briefing on what the Bush administration really means when it talks about "compassionate conservativism" and "the war on terror." Roy has characteristic fun in these essays, skewering the hypocrisy of the more-democratic-than-thou clan. But above all, she aims to remind us that we hold the essence of power and the foundation of genuine democracy-the power of the people to counter their self-appointed leaders' tyranny.

First delivered as fiery speeches to sold-out crowds, together these essays are a call to arms against "the apocalyptic apparatus of the American empire." Focusing on the disastrous US occupation of Iraq, Roy urges us to recognize-and apply-the scope of our power, exhorting US dockworkers to refuse to load materials war-bound, reservists to reject their call-ups, activists to organize boycotts of Halliburton, and citizens of other nations to collectively resist being deputized as janitor-soldiers to clear away the detritus of the US invasion.

Roy's Guide to Empire also offers us sharp theoretical tools for understanding the New American Empire-a dangerous paradigm, Roy argues here, that is entirely distinct from the imperialism of the British or even the New World Order of George Bush, the elder. She examines how resistance movements build power, using examples of nonviolent organizing in South Africa, India, and the United States. Deftly drawing the thread through ostensibly disconnected issues and arenas, Roy pays particular attention to the parallels between globalization in India, the devastation in Iraq, and the deplorable conditions many African Americans, in particular, must still confront.

With Roy as our "guide," we may not be able to relax from the Sisyphean task of stopping the U.S. juggernaut, but at least we are assured that the struggle for global justice is fortified by Roy's hard-edged brilliance.

Customer Reviews:

Illogical, Barbaric thoughts translated into writing!.......2006-07-01

I was recently reading this book 'An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire' by Arundhathi
Roy.

I have heard a lot about her writing, but this was my first read of her products.
To say the truth , I am very disppaointed.

She keeps on arguing about some childish matters, not looking at the global picture.
For example, her arguments against globalisation in India is meaningless. Indian CEOs
make profit by paying less to their employers. This has been the case for the last 50
years or so. Only when the foriegn companies entered India with their aggressive
recruitment drive, people are getting paid decently. Looks like Roy wants us to make
the India rich CEOs, richer. She is hell-bent on proving that America deserved a
september 11, saying that US participated in killings in Iraq, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.
Isn't it a cyclic argument? If US deserved a 9/11 in 2001 for those killings, then She'll
argue in her next book that Afghanistan deserves US-led invasion in 2006 for 9/11.
Now you can guess her next book's main topic.

I think she wants to act as though she does not belong to any country, or is not
behind any government. To show this explicitly, her arguments slowly move towards Kashmir
and Gujarath. She does not know what to speak of here, as her nose lengths into these
topics. She blames the government, RSS, security forces, etc. What she does not understand
is that Kashmir has been like for almost 40 years. This topic has been well-studied, and many many
books written about it. In this case, just providing incomplete data that security forces
were responsible for some <n> killings in Kashmir by no means proves anything. I would like to ask
her the following question: "How did you define 'responsible for'? how about suicide bombings?
or number of people killed by terrorists supported from acorss the border? Don't you remeber
the fact that terrorists killed 100 people in a single night during Bill Clinton's visit? "

Coming to Gujarath incident, I agree with whatever she is saying. Though I've not checked
the figures she has provided, I do believe that the state government headed by Modi
was irresponsible.

However, I strongly condemn her again for deliberately missing the information on
Mumbai blasts. She talks about number of muslims killed, etc, but then
how about the serial blasts? Weren't they executed by the muslim terrorists?
Why doesn't Roy provide the whole figure on number of blast victims?
If She argues that 3000 innocent US Citizens deserved to die on 9/11 just because
their government did bad in many aspects in the past, then why you are against
1000 muslims dying as only the muslim terrorists organized serial blasts in Mumbai
to kill 3000 innocent people?

All she does in this book is providing information to prove whatever
she thinks is right. I have not read a write-up before such as this one,
so cruel, violent, barbaric, and illogical. Just because she has got some award, don't
assume she is good. Don't even think of buying this book, such a wast of time,
effort and money.

Extremely Hateful and Way too often Presents Completely Incorrect Information. .......2006-06-09

Since Roy mostly preaches to the converted, most likely most people who read this review will hit the 'not helpful' button. But we're all entitled to our opinions, particularly in a democracy and the opinion of this review is not in the vein of being a fan of Roy.
"You are by no means a great nation," Roy writes of the United States, "But you COULD be a great people." If an American said the same thing about the Indian people, it would be taken as a highly offensive comment. And certainly, there is much to find by no means great about the Indians, right down to the cruelty they show one another. Especially if a nationI finds some of their own so poor that they're 'untouchable' as is the case with the Indian caste. Roy makes many sweeping comments about the West and Americans in her books, comparing them to Indians, right down to what individuals think. How someone can blanket statement what individuals think is beyond me. Her assessment of the US as a whole is also way off the mark. I don't think she'd educated on American in it's individual, human truth. Too much is TV branding. If does not sound like she's been inside every community and each varying ethnic section and geographical locale, which vary greatly. How she can say an Indian's mind is a lush, wild, wilderness, which would never be found in a Westerner's mind is not only offensive, it's stupid and seeing the world with a set of wooden glasses. Besides the point that she gets so many of the facts wrong, what I think is particularly unappealing about Roy is that she is a rich and spoiled girl who has had quite a bit of opportunity, including the chance to be schooled in the US, where she married into the system, not once, but twice, thus further enjoying the priveleges, earned approximately a million dollars (which she gladly took) for her novel from a company that is tightly tied in to the 'empire' and the 'corporations' which she sneers at, and pretends to have no part at.She is lecturing us not to buy into corporations, but clearly she found a profit there. If we are really not to support the corporations, then we must not buy her books. I find Roy to be an extremely immature voice, and most of what she says on empire and government is Chomsky 101. It's been said before, and better. And if she considers herself a "citizen of the world" then what's the deal with her dual hatred of, making money off of, and continued attempts to worm her way back into the US, while pretending she's above it? Her political holier-than-thou schtick is also a bit of a joke. Remember a few years ago when she attempted to make her Big Point , by allowing herself to be imprisoned.. saying how she was going in there for the long haul to make her point further, then spent a night in jail and got scared by the REALITY of it, and thenimmediately paid the fine, suddenly concocting a story that she didn't need to make her point further? It's this kind of speaking out of one side of her mouth, and her comfort zone really being in another that comes up all too often in this book.

Imperial mix democracy.......2006-06-06

Arundhati Roy's book "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire" is a collection of essays and speeches compiled into a book. While some people may be disappointed in the format and the repetition of some information, that does not detract from her brilliance as one of the most prolific writers of our time. Roy speaks from the heart with justice in mind, and her incisive and witty commentary is devoid of any religious, political, or racial bias. She is one of those rare voices of reason in a progressively insane world, warning us of the danger and consequences from large corporations in the name of "imperial mix democracy".

America in the eys of the rest of the World.......2005-12-16

Opened my eye to how America is perceived by the people we 'helped'. Certainly a view seldom held by the mainstream press. Definitely persuaded me to vote with my wallet and boycott corporations as much as I can.

A collection of essays/speeches with overlapping topics.......2005-11-03

The empire that appears in the title of the book does not pertain exclusively to US under the current Bush administration. Rather, the term empire is loosely used to refer to as various political entities as the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party -- which the author perceives as a Hinduism fundamentalist organization) of India and fundamental capitalistic multinational corporations.

Each chapter is more or less an independent essay or speech. Again contrary to what the reader might expect, the book is not a guide per se. It perhaps would be best summarized as essays/speeches calling for action.

Though I found the author's deliverance powerful, her arguments did not appear particularly fresh. The observations and critiques she makes follows more or less along the lines of Noam Chomsky and the far left.

The biggest disappointment however was editorial -- too many chapters contained the same message, shared the same subjects, and cited identical events for examples. This book in my opinion does not provide much value over reading Roy's essays individually over the web.

Average customer rating:

Your opinion is required
Powerful
Dams, poverty, and nuclear insanity
Aware; insightful
very compelling writing

The Cost of Living
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: Modern Library
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375756140
Release Date: 1999-10-12

Book Description

From the bestselling author of The God of Small Things comes a scathing and passionate indictment of big government's
disregard for the individual.

In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her beloved country. In this spirited polemic, Roy dares to take on two of the great illusions of India's progress: the massive dam projects that were supposed to haul this sprawling subcontinent into the modern age--but which instead have displaced untold millions--and the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb, with all its attendant Faustian bargains.

Merging her inimitable voice with a great moral outrage and imaginative sweep, Roy peels away the mask of democracy and prosperity to show the true costs hidden beneath. For those who have been mesmerized by her vision of India, here is a sketch, traced in fire, of its topsy-turvy society, where the lives of the many are sacrificed for the comforts of the few.

Customer Reviews:

Your opinion is required.......2006-07-22

My India-born spouse once described the difference in how he and I had been taught, through subtle societal reward, to make and respond to assertions. "If you say, 'The sky is blue,'" he said, "I think, 'Ann thinks the sky is blue.' But if I say to you, 'The sky is blue,' you say, 'Oh, it is?' You're ready to believe, just because I stated it as fact. That's why you hedge your thoughts with the words, 'I think,' rather than just saying what you think."

I recall that conversation as I read Arundhati Roy's The Cost of Living, in particular, the essay "The Greater Common Good." Because her voice is clear and compelling, my first response is, "Fifty million people have been displaced by ineffective dam-building in India! Good god, what can be done?"

Then I slow down. Remember. "Arundhati Roy thinks that fifty million people have been displaced in India, by dams she thinks are ineffective. Does she make her case?"

She does.

"The Greater Common Good" means to persuade, but its reportage is separable, sentence by sentence, from the argument. Roy's research is compiled, not from debunkable interviews, but from government plans and records, World Bank reviews and estimates of economic benefit and capital cost, and from statistics such as river flow, reservoir levels, areas of irrigated land, numbers of malaria cases, and megawatts of power produced. More than careful, Roy gleefully points out that the Indian government has produced no studies to verify the difference from the lowest baseline calculation of displaced people, or to quantify agricultural benefits gained from completed dam projects.

To follow along, you'll need to work through numbers and a cast of characters, as with any story about accounting and the preservation of power. The payoff to your attentiveness is that once you gather who's done what and at what cost in India's dam-building plans, you are as fully armed as Roy herself to examine the rest of her assertions. You'll have enough facts to agree or disagree with her thesis, "Carelessness cannot account for fifty million disappeared people... Let's not delude ourselves. There is method here, precise, relentless, and 100 percent manmade."

Roy doesn't leave the American reader the familiar out: "I don't live there. I don't have the right to an opinion." Roy works in facts as well as narrative; you'll be hard pressed to evade responsibility for your assent or dissent from her conclusions. Like this one: "Resettling 200,000 people in order to take (or pretend to take) water to 40 million--there's something very wrong with the scale of operations here. This is Fascist math." You can agree or disagree... but reading "The Greater Common Good," you can't wheedle your way out of having a stance.

Two treasures are secreted away inside "The Greater Common Good." One is the story of modern Satyagraha--the practice of nonviolent resistance--how the villagers of the Narmada valley walked into the valley when it was to be flooded, willing to drown. They won a postponement and an independent review of the dam project. The other is a thin, brilliant thread through the narrative: Roy's support of her right as a citizen to research and respond to her government's decisions. It implies the reader has an obligation to respond as well.

In a single sentence, in the heart of the essay, Roy says, "The people whose lives were going to be devastated were neither informed nor consulted nor heard." Her challenge to the reader echoes, unstated: So what do you think of that? What do you think?

Powerful.......2004-01-16

This is the first book by Roy that I read, and my favorite. In comparison to The God of Small Things, that's saying a lot. The first essay is the most powerful and clear explanation I have ever read anywhere about the failings of organisations such as the WTO; however, it is not only an attack on international financial institutions. It also discusses the abuses that occur on a national and local level in conjunction with the work of international groups. I suggest this book to anyone who is having trouble understanding the objections to globalization and the WTO.

Dams, poverty, and nuclear insanity.......2003-11-17

This is a short but effective book. It's divided into two parts. In part one, Arundhati Roy writes about dam-building in India. This heavily-footnoted chapter gets a longer treatment in her next book, Power Politics. Here she introduces the topic, adding a lot of context to the statistics. Her outrage is palpable. This leads into the second part, and angry essay about India and Pakistan becoming part of the nuclear fraternity (both countries publicly tested nuclear weapons in May of 1998). Both countries have so many problems --- and so much tension between them over Kashmir --- that this development can only be considered a disaster for the hundreds of millions of people in the region.

Arundhati Roy is someone we should all listen to. She's an activist, novelist, and a great writer. This book is a good introduction to her work.

Aware; insightful.......2003-06-18

Contrary to her critics, I do not believe this woman can be neatly dismissed as a 'Marxist'. In many places she describes how these kind of huge, overblown, poorly considered projects are the natural result of India's huge, titularly 'socialist' bureaucracy. Like me, and unlike Noam Chomsky or others, she does not traffic in conspiracy theories. That is, she does not insist that a hidden, evil intelligence is in charge of the events she describes. Rather, she is aware of the DISorganization that naturally occurs whenever human beings get together in large groups--like militaries or bureaucracies, leftist or rightist, with good intentions or ill.

It would also be a mistake for anyone to think this book pertains only to India. As an American, I can see many of the same sorts of elements she describes: a failure to understand the links between ecology and economy; false economies (that is, technology that awes in its scale yet fundamentally degrades rather than improves human life); misplaced government priorities; rule by the courts, etc.

very compelling writing.......2003-04-01

The Cost of Living is the second book by Arundhati Roy, but is her first non fiction book. Her first book was the phenomenally good novel The God of Small Things . The Cost of Living is a collection of two essays.

The first is "The Greater Common Good" and deals with the building of the Big Dams in India (Roy is native to India and still lives there). Roy writes about some of the politics involved in the building of the dams and makes clear enormity of the human cost and the lives lost and displaced. Roy is vehemently against this ongoing project, and while this essay only presents one side of the argument, it is still a well crafted and well written and emotionally compelling argument.

The second essay is "The End of Imagination". This essay was written in 1998 shortly after India had revealed that it was doing nuclear testing. Apparently, the party line was that nuclear weaponry = patriotism = Hinduism = India. By this logic, any Indian who was not in favor of the testing was also against India itself. Flawed logic, and Roy takes the government to task focusing on nuclear testing when so much of the nation is starving, uneducated, and needs true assistance. Roy's arguments against nuclear testing are wide ranging. She discusses the fact that most of the nation is uneducated and does not know what it means to have nuclear weapons and what the negatives are. She writes against the government, lining its pockets at the expense of the nation. She writes against the United States for introducing the nuclear game to the world. The biggest loser in this game, Roy believes, is India. India believes itself to be a world player, but Roy explains the national delusion and why this is simply not the case.

Book Description

As the United States pushes for war on Iraq, Arundhati Roy, the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things, addresses issues of democracy and dissent, racism and empire, and war and peace in this collection of new essays.

The eloquence, passion, and political insight of Roy's political essays have added legions of readers to those already familiar with her Booker Prize-winning novel. -Invited to lecture as part of the prestigious Lannan -Foundation series on the first anniversary of the unconscionable attacks of September 11, 2001, Roy challenged those who equate dissent with being "anti-American." Her previous essays on globalization and dissent have led many to see Roy as "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence" (New York Times).

War Talk collects new essays by this prolific writer. Her work highlights the global rise of religious and racial violence. From the horrific pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat, India, to U.S. demands for a war on Iraq, Roy confronts the call to militarism. Desperately working against the backdrop of the nuclear recklessness between her homeland and Pakistan, she calls into question the equation of nation and ethnicity. And throughout her essays, Roy interrogates her own roles as "writer" and "activist."

"If [Roy] continues to upset the globalization applecart like a Tom Paine pamphleteer, she will either be greatly honored or thrown in jail," wrote Pawl Hawken in Wired Magazine. In fact she was jailed in March 2002, when -India's Supreme Court found Roy in contempt of the court after months of attempting to silence her criticism of the government.

Fully annotated versions of all Roy's most recent -essays, including her acclaimed Lannan Foundation -lecture from September 2002, are included in War Talk. Arundhati Roy is the winner of the Lannan Foundation's Prize for Cultural Freedom, 2002, and will be returning to the U.S. in association with the Lannan Foundation in 2003. Roy's most recent collection of essays, Power Politics, now in its second edition, sold over 25,000 copies in its first 12 months.

Customer Reviews:

Arundhati Roy is a great speaker and essayist but she needs to tone down the anti-Americanism:.......2007-06-18

I first want to start off this review by saying that "I love America." I don't love, or condone the malicious acts that iniquitous individuals in our government have committed in the past and are still committing today, but I love my country. I think sometimes individuals such as Arundhati seem to forget the good that has come out of America's struggle. Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." And there are many Americans that are vigilant today. Individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and Milton William Cooper have died for the cause of vigilant libertarianism, which I think many of us forget from time to time.
What gets me in angst is that individuals such as Arundhati pontificate about the evils in our government, but fail to separate the people from the government, and this failure has a tendency to lead people into contemplating the wrong conclusions.
A case in point: Arundhati wrote an introduction to Noam Chomsky's book "For Reason of State"(which is reprinted in this book) and in it she says, "How has the United States survived its terrible past and emerged smelling so sweet? Not by owning up to it [in reference to the American Indian Wars], not by making reparations, not by apologizing to black Americans or native Americans, and certainly not by changing its ways. Like most other countries, the United States has rewritten its history. But what sets the United States apart from other countries, and puts it way ahead in the race, is that it has enlisted the services of the most powerful, most successful publicity firm in the world: Hollywood."
Now here where her diatribe suffers a syllogistic dilemma; the United States is a country not a political institution. Governments are political institutions entrusted to run a country and (so-called) qualified individuals are placed in-charge of running these institutions in the interest of the people.
But we must remember that sometimes-corrupt individuals egregiously take advantage of governments. This is known as Machiavellianism.
So, to put it in layman's terms, the inquiry is, who are the people running the government? And what are their individual crimes? When making arguments such as this, one has to identify the perpetrators of the crimes in question.
Perpetrators: meaning the people who committed the criminal acts!
Arundhati Roy (like many others) commits a dubious deed. Which is, she doesn't name names. Accusations without naming the accused are vapid complaints.

{{{GIVE US THE NAMES OF THE PERPATRATORS IN QUESTION!}}}
That's all I'm trying to say.

Furthermore, insofar as her remark about the U.S. rewriting history, the U.S. has not rewritten history. U.S. history is in abundance; it's just based on a litany of interpretations and opinions that cause one to resort to syllogisms to delineate the axiomatic conclusions. There are no absolute truths in history, that's just a fact considering the world governments' conspiracies that are hidden from public scrutiny. But we can come to some semblance of the truth by going to the library and reading books or researching on-line.
Now, if she wanted to point out that the U.S. educational system is mendacious with its ad hominems she'd be totally correct. So, then why doesn't she identify the individuals who own and control the educational institutions in question? Always ask yourself these questions when reading books like this. Don't ever take anything anyone says at face value.
And about her Hollywood comment: institutionalized-Hollywood is part of the governmental conspiracy, not part of the American people. The people that control, abuse and manipulate the government are the ones who own Hollywood. So the government never enlisted Hollywood because institutionalized-Hollywood has always been apart of the conspiracy.

Here's another remark she makes without thinking it through. "Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons. They're usually fought for hegemony, for business. And of course, there's the business of war." If you read her entire account you'll see where she's going with this particular argument since she is referring to U.S. oil/war profiteering, but to say that wars are never fought altruistically is absurd, it depends on whose side you're on. There are noble causes, remember Nat Turner's "Great Slave Rebellion," Osceola and "the Seminole Wars", or "Shay's Rebellion." Yes, there are antagonist then there's the opposition who'll stand recalcitrant to antagonistic hegemony, (in other words, heroes who are ready to stand up against the opposition.)

Also, on page-50 she said, "To call someone anti-American, indeed to be anti-American (or for the matter anti-Indian, or anti-Timbuktuan) is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those that the establishment has set out for you: If you're not a Bushie, you're a Taliban. If you don't love us, you hate us. If you're not Good, you're Evil. If you're not with us, you're with the terrorist." She then said, "I too made the mistake of scoffing at this post-September 11th rhetoric, dismissing it as foolish and arrogant. I've realized that it's not foolish at all. It's actually a canny recruitment drive for a misconceived, dangerous war." Her statement rings so true, but if she really believes that then why does she speak in absolutes and generality instead of naming the accused.
This book has a lot of faults, which is why what I'm going to say is in incongruity. I enjoyed this book. Arundhati Roy is an extremely articulate speaker and writer who I think is sincere about being the voice of the downtrodden. I just think she should be more mindful of what she says and start charging individual perpetrators with war crimes instead of marginalizing an entire nation when discussing world affairs. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to more of her writing in the future because I believe she has a good heart and means well.

Urgent And Powerful.......2007-04-15

"War Talk" is an urgent message to the world from one of the great activists of our time, India's Arundhati Roy. In this powerful collection of essays, Roy reflects on the state of the world in the "War On Terror" era and on the disastrous measures undertaken by the Indian government in regards to Muslims and other minorities. This book is a journey through the world as Roy sees it, experiences it. She is of course famous for her novel "The God Of Small Things," and here she achieves the same kind of poetry and cultural insight, she forms images with words, feelings with phrases. Roy chronicles with chilling detail massacres carried out in India against Muslims by radical right-wing government forces and forces us to confront our own government's hijacking by radical religious elements. The great piece in the book is "Come September," a powerful speech Roy delivered in 2002 that is a perfect expression of the post-9/11 world. She reminds us that we are not alone in the world when it comes to being attacked by terrorists, and that we have exported violence ourselves. Roy points out that September 11 is also the anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup in Chile against the elected government of Salvador Allende. Allende was killed and the fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet took power and opened concentration camps and torture chambers through-out Chile. There is a beautiful style to the way Roy deconstructs language and terms, making us exam official doctrine for what it is. She writes a wonderful essay on Noam Chomsky which praises Chomsky's efforts and in a broader sense covers our need to analyze and question media. "War Talk" is a warning on a world being abused by neo-liberalism and radical capitalism which Roy believes will collapse in the same style as Soviet communism. In striking passages she imagines a world consumed in nuclear war, imagining a radioactive landscape where her loved ones and her favorite things have perished under a mushroom cloud, a warning to us all. One finds a sense of cultural unity here, when Roy describes the problems India faces we realize many are not so different from our own, human beings must fight the same evils wherever they surface. Those who want to read something with more depth and meaning should read Roy, her comments are well-researched and constructed, it's almost like the alternative to the kind of radical dribble we get from figures like Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. Concerned citizens should read Roy and know the history of our world.

Thought-provoking and disturbing.......2006-08-02

Whether or not you agree with Ms. Roy, reading her book will provoke you, and thus, to me, it is worth-while. It is particularly incendiary if you a regular American living a regular life. Ms. Roy spares few in allotting responsibility for the troubles of the world's poor and war-stricken. I did find her somewhat anti-American, but then, I'm biased.

Definitely take a look. Ms. Roy is extremely readable. I loved God of Small Things, and though I normally don't read political non-fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Frank Commentary.......2005-09-25

This book exposes the truth about the injustices occuring in India without being clouded by passion. As always Ms. Roy gives the reader an honest account of what is actually transpiring. She gives the reader a portrait of the various people who are affected by these "social" projects without coming across as the evening news. This is definately a must read for anyone who believes in justice for everyone, not just the wealthy.

A Bold Voice in a Mind-Melted World.......2004-12-07

This book is the meat and potatoes - real food for real thought. And amazingly, people who dare speak out what is really the truth behind the visage of government and political authority usually get their butts whipped dearly, like jailed, beaten, extradited and so forth. So it's rather impressive to see this woman come out speak so both brazenly, that is "truthfully," and yet so eloquently and beautifully as she does.

Interesting thing about a tyrannical democracy; while dictatorial and authoritarian, which destroys many innocent lives, when it comes to the pressure of public opinion, that is where they must lay off and retreat, at least to certain extents, all depending on how much public opinion we are talking about. But the nature of the beast allows such so-called democracies (in name only) to ignore much public opinion if it really only consists of small numbers, which are usually masked to represent great numbers, which in reality, they do not, as most modern day polling will reveal. And so the governments can ignore these dissenters, but if admired by too many, or by others outspoken, they cannot punish them in fear of reprisal.

In this book, Arundhati Roy speaks of the injustices of her native country India, that is, the Indian governments hypocrisy and outright criminality within policies, denials, actions and non-actions towards its people. And while she is at it, she addresses a strong indictment against other governments of the world too, including Britain, the United States and Israel.

And so, Roy outlines a terrible policy of India in their attempt to create water damns, out placing thousands of citizens without relocating them into homelessness and poverty beyond repair. It's truly a disgraceful account of government abuses, which need to be addressed by the modern day Thomas Paignes, as Roy so appears to be.

What Roy next addresses is a train attack that killed innocent Hindus by the Muslims, although no group ever took responsibility. While this was a horrendous and terrible event, the subsequent actions enabled by a certain segment of the Hindus and endorsed, allowed and ignored by the Indian government was a far more substantial event of a despicable nature of societal damage, to the culture itself and the severe deterioration to what is perceived as democracy.

What I found so significant in Roy's book is that of describing how democracies and other forms of governments work with their subjects, the public, the media and so forth.

"In the twenty-first century the connection between religious fundamentalism, nuclear nationalism, and the pauperization of whole populations because of corporate globalization is becoming impossible to ignore. While the Madhya Pradesh government has categorically said it has no land for the rehabilitation of displaced people, reports say that it is preparing the ground (pardon the pun) to make huge tracts of land available for the corporate agriculture. This in turn will set off another cycle of displacement and impoverishment." P. 14

"In India if you are a butcher or a genocidist who happens to be a politician, you have every reason to be optimistic. No one even expects politicians to be prosecuted. To demand that Modi and his henchmen be arraigned and put away would make other politicians vulnerable to their own unsavory pasts. So instead they disrupt Parliament, shout a lot. Eventually those in power set up commissions of inquiry, ignore the findings, and between themselves makes sure the juggernaut chugs on. "

"Already the issue has begun to morph. Should elections be allowed or not? Should the Election Commission decide that? Or the Supreme Court? Either way, whether elections are held or deferred, by allowing Modi to walk free, by allowing him to continue with his career as a politician, the fundamental, governing principles of democracy are not just being subverted but deliberately sabotaged. This kind of democracy is the problem, not the solution. Our society's greatest strength is being turned into her deadliest enemy. What's the point of us all going on about "deepening democracy," when it's being beat and twisted into something unrecognizable?" pp. 33-34

"Its disturbing to see how neatly nationalism dovetails into fascism. While we must not allow the fascists to define what the nation is, or who it belongs to, it's worth keeping in mind that nationalism - in all its many avatars: communist, capitalist and fascist - has been at the root of almost all the genocide of the twentieth century. On the issue of nationalism, it's wise to proceed with caution." P. 36

"Nobody doubts that Saddam Hussein is a ruthless dictator, a murderer (whose worst excesses were supported by the government of the United States and Great Britain). There's no doubt that Iraqis would be better off without him.

But then, the whole world would be better off without a certain Mr. Bush. In fact, he is far more dangerous than Saddam Hussein.

So, should we bomb president Bush out of the White House? It's more than clear that Bush is determined to go into war against Iraq, regardless of the facts - and regardless of international public opinion. In its recruitment drive for allies, the United States is prepared to invent facts." Pp.110-111

I also agree and worded the same thoughts prior to Bush's unwarranted attack and further do not support a continued effort of devastation that is occurring there.

Public Power In The Age Of Empire (Open Media Pamphlet Series)

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Public Power In The Age Of Empire (Open Media Pamphlet Series)
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
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The God of Small Things

ASIN: 1583226826

Book Description

"The scale of what Roy surveys is staggering. Her pointed indictment is devastating."-The New York Times Book Review

"Reading Arundhati Roy is how the peace movement arms itself. She turns our grief and rage into courage."-Naomi Klein, author of No Logo

In her major address to the 99th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association on August 16, 2004-"Public Power in the Age of Empire," broadcast nationally on C-Span Book TV, Democracy Now! and Alternative Radio-writer Arundhati Roy brilliantly examines the limits to democracy in the world today. Bringing the same care to her prose that she brought to her Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things, Roy discusses the need for social movements to contest the occupation of Iraq and the reduction of "democracy" to elections with no meaningful alternatives allowed. She explores the dangers of the "NGO-ization of resistance," shows how governments that block nonviolent dissent in fact encourage terrorism and examines the role of the corporate media in marginalizing oppositional voices.

Arundhati Roy is the author of the novel The God of Small Things, for which she was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. Roy has also published four essay collections: An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, War Talk, Power Politics and The Cost of Living and is the subject of The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Interviews with Arundhati Roy, edited by David Barsamian. Roy received the 2002 Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom from the Lannan Foundation. Trained as an architect, Roy lives in New Delhi, India.

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The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile

globalizing dissent

Smart Political Conversation

Roy's story of development, personal and global

Personal and Impromptu Roy

The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy
David Barsamian , and Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: South End Press
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ASIN: 0896087107

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A skillful interviewer can reveal aspects of a writer's voice in simple yet telling ways. As a novelist, Arundhati Roy is known for her lush language and intricate structure. As a political essayist, her prose is searching and fierce. All of these qualities shine through in the interviews collected by David Barsamian for Globalizing Dissent: Converations with Arundhati Roy. New and devoted readers will find that these exchanges, recorded between 2001 and 2003, add to their appreciation of Roy's previous work.

Whether discussing her childhood or the problems of translation in a multilingual society, Roy and Barsamian, the producer and host of Alternative Radio, engage in a lively and accessible manner. Speaking candidly and casually, Roy describes her participation in a demonstration against the Indian dam program as, "absolutely fantastic." She jokes that her Supreme Court charge for "corrupting public morality"-in the case of her novel The God of Small Things-should have been changed to "further corrupting public morality." She calls on her training as an architect to explain what she means by the "physics of power." Like a house of cards, she argues that "unfettered power . . . cannot go berserk like this and expect to hold it all together."

Roy has been acclaimed for her courage (Salman Rushdie) and her eloquence (Kirkus Reviews), and her writing has been described as "a banquet for the senses" (Newsweek). She has found a readership among fiction enthusiasts and political activists. Globalizing Dissent captures Roy speaking one-on-one to her audience, revealing her intense and wide-ranging intellect, her very personal voice, and her opinion on momentous political events.

Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. She is the recipient of the 2002 Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom.

Customer Reviews:

The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile.......2005-09-24

I read and very much enjoyed Ms. Roy's book, The God of Small Things. A short time ago I was driving home after having participated in a candle light vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan and our troops in Iraq when I heard a broadcast of a speech she made in Australia. I was so impressed that I immediately ordered the book which contains that speech and other NPR interviews. While I've not had time yet to read the book, the teaser I got from listening to her, tells me that this will be a "5" experience!

globalizing dissent.......2004-10-16

Originally titled "The Globalization of Dissent", "The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile" is a series of four interviews with author Arundhati Roy. The interviews, guided conversations, really, are conducted by radio producer David Barsaman. Roy is perhaps best known as the author of the Booker Prize winning novel "The God of Small Things", but she has also written three collections of essays dealing with such various subjects as the corruption of the Indian government, American Imperialism, and nuclear arms proliferation. This book touches on many of these same themes, but also deals with Roy's personal life in a level her essays have not.

The first interview "Knowledge and Power" was conducted in February 2001. As the title suggests, the focus of this interview is on knowledge and power and what both mean to Arundhati Roy. Roy discusses, as she does in her essays, the abuse of power by the Indian government and the arrogance of controlling knowledge. Roy mentions how knowledge can (and has) caused arrogance and corruption in the intellectual elites. Specific instances mentioned include the government letting Enron control and own so much of India's power structure, and the irresponsible destruction caused by the Big Dam projects. This interview paints, in broad strokes, a picture of the overall worldview of Arundhati Roy. This is fantastic stuff. In Roy we discover an intelligent, accomplished, passionate woman who has taken the very human responsibility of trying to make a difference in the world.

The second interview, taken in September 2002, is a much shorter essay. Titled "Terror and the Maddened King", the essay begins with David Barsaman questioning Roy about the charges brought against her because of the novel "The God of Small Things". This interview deals more with Roy's reaction to, and experience with, government bullying. This interview feels as if it is setting up a future discussion, that there is a reason why Roy and others must speak up to the injustices caused by governments and Empires of the world.

In the longest interview, "Privitization and Polarization", Arundhati Roy makes some bold, inflammatory statements. She writes "terrorism is the privitization of war. Terrorists are the free marketers of war - people who believe that it isn't only the state that can wage war, but private parties as well." (92) She then goes on to say that "Osama Bin Laden and George Bush are both terrorists". To the American reader this is a shocking and even inconceivable. Taken from a different perspective and reading how Roy explains her viewpoint, it is not as unbelievable as it seems. From the viewpoint of one who is against globalization and the bullying of the government of the American Empire, the connections in Roy's logic are understandable. She does make a point, however, to distinguish the American people with the political power machine. This interview was conducted in November 2002.

The final interview was conducted on May 26, 2003. The title here, "Globalizing Dissent", is particularly apt. While it is never stated directly, the primary theme running through this interview is the idea that the globalization of a "world economy", which Roy feels is the globalization of the American economy, is necessarily also globalizing a dissent against that same globalization. This, Roy contends, is why the world is seeing a higher amount of and more intense form of terrorism against the forms of globalization. It is seen against America in Iraq and Roy sees it firsthand in India. In this interview Roy talks about how the terrorism of George Bush in Iraq is doing nothing more than causing more and more of this dissent.

There is very much a strong tone of anti-globalization running through "The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile". Arundhati Roy is against the broad application of power which is wielded by the world's most powerful nation. She feels strongly about looking after all of humanity, not just those with power. Ultimately, that is what Roy is trying to accomplish.

The voice of Arundhati Roy is vitally important, no matter what one's opinion of her message. At the very least it is a point of view which should be seriously considered as an alternative. She makes very good points and argues them passionately and with intelligence. She suffers no fools and has no patience with an argument made from simple nationalism. This is an important voice, but perhaps one that many in the world will find uncomfortable as she argues against many of the foundations of Western Society.

The bottom line is that this book expands and explains Roy's essays and gives a deeper personal look inside the life and mind of an important writer.

-Joe Sherry

Smart Political Conversation.......2004-10-06

Here is everything you've come to know and love of Arundhati Roy - and David Barsamian. Roy's political observations are of an exceptionally acute and pithy intelligence. Her wisdom has a way of turning a phrase completely unique to Roy, yet without losing the common touch. It lashes out in fury at injustice everywhere, yet with compassion as vital and common as sodden sand squishing through barefoot toes on a riverbank.

Despite her success, Roy is quite content to live away from celebrity, in India, which she says maintains a measure of the wildness that has long been put under the bulldozer of Western "progress":

"In India we are fighting to retain a wilderness that we have. Whereas in the West, it's gone. Every person that's walking down the street is a walking bar code. You can tell where their clothes are from, how much they cost, which designer made which shoe, which shop you bought each item from. Everything is civilized and tagged and valued and numbered and put in its place. Whereas in India, the wilderness still exists - the unindocrinated wilderness of the mind, full of untold secrets and wild imaginings. It's threatened, but we're fighting to retain it. We don't have to reconjure it. It's there. It's with us. It's not got signposts all the way. There is that space that hasn't been completely mapped and taken over and tagged and trademarked. I think that's important. And it's important that in India, we understand that it's there and we value it.

Roy expresses a remarkably matter-of-fact courage and an unbiased reason in the face of the rabid nationalism and religious fundamentalism and fanaticism that engenders, among other dark clouds, the nuclear brinkmanship between India and Pakistan.

There is something almost otherwordly about the honesty and modesty of Roy's political discourse, something in her expression so humane and plain-spoken you had despaired ever hearing it again. It is othwordly precisely because it's so obvious, so expected, and yet almost always lacking.

After the smash success of her first novel The God of Small Things, Roy says rather than any of the large publishing houses from which she could have had her pick she chose South End Press to publish her next two books of essays:

"People really imagine that most people are in search of fame or fortune or success. But I don't think that's true. I think there are lots of people who are more imaginative than that. When people describe me as famous and rich and successful, it makes me feel queasy. Each of those words falls on my soul like an insult. They seem tinny and boring and shiny and uninteresting to me. It makes me feel unsuccessful because I never set out to be those things. And they make me uneasy. To be famous, rich, and successful in this world is not an admirable thing. I'm suspicious of it all."

Quintessential Roy, and such a beautiful thought. In its own right, but especially in contrast to the seething, insatiable appetites of capitalist greed. Whatever happened to beautiful thoughts in beautiful minds?

Who else but Roy will say piercing truths we all feel, but cannot quite enunciate such as the fact that all the attention to terrorism today "completely ignores the economic terrorism unleashed by neoliberalism, which devastates the lives of millions of people, depriving them of water, food, electricity. Denying them medicine. Denying them education. Terrorism is the logical extension of this business of the free market. Terrorism is the privatization of war. Terrorists are the free marketeers of war - people who believe that it isn't only the state that can wage war, but private parties as well."

Elsewhere, Roy gives a psychology of terror in which U.S. and U.K. resorts to war in reaction to terrorist strikes actually empower terrorists, because before the terrorist were only weak, wretched and anonymous. Now they can start wars. Now they have their finger on the nuclear button.

This too, vintage Roy:

"In a country like the United States where books like Chomsky's 9-11 are starting to reach wider audiences, aren't people going to feel a bit pissed off that they had no idea about what was going on, and what was being done in their name? If the corporate media continues to be as outrageous in its suppression of facts as it is, it might just lift off like a scab. It might become something that's totally irrelevant, that people just don't believe. Because ultimately, people are interested in their own safety.

"The policies the U.S. government is following are dangerous for its citizens. It's true that you can bomb or buy out anybody that you want to, but you can't control the rage that's building in the world. You just can't. And that rage will express itself in some way or the other. Condemning violence is not going to be enough. How can you condemn violence when a section of your economy is based on selling weapons and making bombs and piling up chemical and biological weapons? When the soul of your culture worships violence? On what grounds are you going to condemn terrorism, unless you change your attitude toward violence?"

Roy's story of development, personal and global.......2004-09-17

David Barsamian asks good questions (he's had years of practice) but it's Arundhati Roy's answers that make this book so rewarding. She combines an impressive knowledge of facts with real commitment and passion.

She doesn't let the interview format get the best of her, turning her responses into lectures. Instead, she is a smart-alec sometimes and just plain smart at other times. Her dedication to making the world a better place is personal, with roots in her childhood in India. As she describes US imperialism, corporate power, and corruption in the Indian government, she ties it all to her own political development. This is an important book, easy to read but very informative and inspiring.

Personal and Impromptu Roy.......2004-05-25

This book is wonderful for those who are already familiar with Roy's work, providing an opportunity for her to reflect on prior work and speak her mind openly. Along with discussion of contemporary issues, such as 9-11, US imperial hegemony, and the Narmada Dam project in India, The Checkbook and the Cruise Missle fleshes out the context of Roy's upbringing in Kerala, India, as well as the deeper motivations behind The God of Small Things, Power Politics and War Talk. David Barsamian, veteran underground media guru, asks fresh, penetrating questions that will keep you interested throughout. A wonderful addition to Roy literature.

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100% tripe
A seminal work on Vietnam, anarchism, and human nature
Chosky at most passionate

For Reasons of State
Noam Chomsky , and Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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War Talk
Public Power In The Age Of Empire (Open Media Pamphlet Series)
Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
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The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy

ASIN: 1565847946

Book Description

Chomsky's major works now reissued by The New Press.

An essential record of Chomsky's political and social thought as it was sharpened during the upheavals in domestic and international affairs of the early 1970s, For Reasons of State includes articles on the war in Vietnam and the "wider war" in Laos and Cambodia, an extensive dissection of the Pentagon Papers, reflections on the role of force in international affairs, essays on civil disobedience and the use of the university, and a now-classic introduction to anarchism. These essays reveal very different facets of Chomsky's power as a thinker, from his uncanny ability to join abstract philosophical considerations with the concrete political realities of his time, to his singular capacity to mount withering, fact-based critiques of American foreign policy. Following the recent release of American Power and the New Mandarins, For Reasons of State is a major addition to the intellectual history of the Vietnam era.

Customer Reviews:

100% tripe.......2004-01-01

Really a total mis-mash of bewildering essays from the mid 70s this collection mirrors the typical anti-Americanism of the era. The essays are called `bold' but the reality is that disagreeing with the Vietnam war isn't exactly revolutionary. No original thought is found within these essays instead they are the typical `America is evil' mentality. One essay in particular focuses on the war in Laos and Cambodia but it ignores the Vietnamese invasions of these countries and the destabilizing influence that Vietnamese troops caused as they rampaged through the rice fields of Cambodia in order to invade South Vietnam. The reality is that these essays completely ignore and in fact deny the truth about Pol Pots regime in Cambodia, a communist regime that killed 25% of the country and especially murdered minority groups and Muslims. These glaring anti-factuals make this collection hard to accept and even harder to digest. Fans of the authors previous work will be delighted, while most will be unhappy.

A seminal work on Vietnam, anarchism, and human nature.......2003-11-26

In 1973, Noam Chomsky released this collection of expanded articles and new material. This was his second political book, published at the height of Vietnam war protests. The book begins with an in-depth examination of the Pentagon Papers. This confidential history of US policy toward Vietnam was made public in the late 1960s, leading to a lawsuit by the US government against the New York Times and other newspapers. The newspapers won (when midwestern papers started printing the confidential history, making the lawsuit irrelevant) and everyone was finally able to see what the Pentagon had been up to since the 1950s.

It's not a pretty picture. Chomsky quotes the Papers relentlessly, citing multiple versions of it. He lets the generals and politicians speak for themselves, revealing their real commitments, showing how they prevented democracy from breaking out in Vietnam in 1954. From there, he shows how the war expanded to Laos and Cambodia. The footnotes for these chapters are massive, citing hundreds of reliable sources. This section of the book is one of the best examinations of the Vietnam war you'll ever read, right up there with Gabriel Kolko's "Anatomy of a War" and Marilyn Young's "The Vietnam Wars."

Then Chomsky shifts gears. He writes a brief but powerful essay on war resistance and the role of universities as subversive institutions. These chapters show Chomsky's commitment to peaceful, intelligent, democratic protest --- and his honesty about its limitations.

The final chapters are about behaviorism, anarchism, and human nature. Although these topics are quite a change from the Vietnam war material at the beginning, they are no less impressive. Chomsky's review of BF Skinner's behaviorism completely demolishes the concept. This essay single-handedly brought the field to a halt in 1972. (Skinner responded once, failing to counter Chomsky's arguments, and behaviorism never recovered.) He even takes time to explain, in a single footnote, why Richard Herrnstein's study of IQ is useless (which made "The Bell Curve" irrelevant twenty years before it was written). Chomsky's notes on anarchism and his reflections on the mystery of human nature describe his underlying attitude about people and their relation to the state.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an education on Vietnam or Noam Chomsky's political work. The lies of Vietnam --- and the illegitimate authority of the state --- continue today in new forms. This book will inspire you to activism, and to learn more.

Chosky at most passionate.......2002-06-11

"For reasons of state" and "American power"; both written at the height of the vietnam war are chomsky at his most passionate. The works are obvoiusly written when the hopes of real change in the power structures of society seemed like a real possiblity. The condemnations of US policy are fast and furiuos as Chomsky turns scrutizing State dept papers into calls to action. There is no punches pulled here, hopeful thoughts of future stuctures of human freedom are disscussed in chapters with titles such as "notes on anarchism."
Agree with him or not this is one of the few political books that can actually raise your heart rate.

In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones: The Original Screenplay

Average customer rating:

Fun screenplay of an obscure film
Awesome movie, great script

In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones: The Original Screenplay
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: Penguin India
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0143029274

Book Description

The screenplay of this moving, funny and unusual film is published here for the first time, together with over thirty stills and a witty, nostalgic preface in which Arundhati Roy writes about the making of the film, its relevance today and its significance in the development of her art and her politics.

Customer Reviews:

Fun screenplay of an obscure film.......2007-06-12

Based on recommendations from friends of Indian film institute, I ordered this screenplay and thourughly enjoyed reading it. It was just very funny, quirky and rebuilds a college atmosphere, which many of us, in particular Delhiites would relate to. I gather that this film was screened one time on doordarshan late at night before disappearing into oblivion. The original record is probably lost by now... which is too bad. Thankfully the screenplay exists and can be bought over Amazon.

Awesome movie, great script.......2004-01-06

Having seen the movie many years ago and loved it, the script was bound to be a winner too. Its unpretentious, funny as hell, and very evocative of the quirkiness in any college atmosphere anywhere anytime (though it's set in the 70s in New Delhi's School of Planning & Architecture).

Average customer rating:

An Angel is She

The Algebra of Infinite Justice
Arundhati Roy
Manufacturer: Flamingo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Activism | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire
War Talk
The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy
Public Power In The Age Of Empire (Open Media Pamphlet Series)
The God of Small Things

ASIN: 0007149492

Book Description

First published in 2001, this book brings together all of Arundhati Roy's political writings so far. This revised paperback edition includes two new essays, written in early 2002: 'Democracy: Who's She When She's Not at Home', which examines the horrific communal violence in Gujarat, and 'War Talk: Summer Games with Nuclear Bombs', about the threat of nuclear war in the Subcontinent.

Customer Reviews:

An Angel is She.......2004-09-30

Though her writing may appeal primarily to left-wing intellectuals, this book is a person every individual should have on his or her bookshelf. Her longest essay in this book, The Greater Common Good, focuses on large dam construction, but covers many issues of philosophical interest. Why take away from one and give to another? A utilitarian could make the argument that we should strive for the greatest good for the greatest number of people, but who is receiving the greatest good? We know that it is true that dams harm the environment in a variety of different ways -- e.g. waterlogging. Taking this into consideration along with the sheer costs and the number of people who suffer from dam building, is the utilitarian argument really valid? It seems to me, that it is in fact not even a utilitarian argument.

Arundhati Roy would agree. In this book, she explains that in most development projects throughout India, apart from the Sardar Sarovar project that has received so much attention, the displaced have no records, and they leave virtually no trace at all (Roy 104). This makes it nearly impossible for us to tell exactly or even approximately how many millions of people are suffering from the results of dam construction. Apart from this, according to Roy, the government of India has not issued a post-project evaluation on any of the 3,600 dams it has constructed (Roy 59). How, then, are we to know what good the dams are doing, if they are doing any good at all? Is it really worth it to not know, at the cost of the people?

Many other interesting topics are addressed in this book, and her unique writing style is sure to get a reaction out of you, whatever political beliefs you may hold. I guarantee that by the end of the first short essay you'll either be screaming "yes!" with passion in your voice, or banging your fists on the table in anger. Only a writer as good as Roy is capable of that.

Roy's beautiful, eloquent, and powerful writing style encourages many people in the West to consider issues they may have never considered otherwise. Roy's life has been devoted to the service of humankind, and I am forever in admiration of her strong, passionate spirit.

Read it, or miss out.

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