67 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Look Elsewhere for Enlightenment, July 20, 2006
This review is from: What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running the World (Paperback)
What I liked about Rossi's book was its overall design. What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running the World is set up as a survey of what she considers to be the groups and individuals that comprise the world's ruling class. It was intersting to read through a sort of "survey course" of the world's movers and shakers. ...And yet.
Yet, what I disliked was the shallowness of Rossi's analysis. In fact, the book became somewhat tedious. Too often, Rossi's arguments were based on insinuation rather than evidence. I was dismayed at this to say the least, since I am aware of the evidence that supports her arguments. And that left me wondering why she didn't take the time to include such evidence.
What's worse, Rossi's work is terribly ethnocentric. Nearly all the world's problems begin and end with the U.S. It's a sort of self-obsession that makes me really wonder if all those Euro-snobs who deride U.S. culture as being essentially narcissistic are on to something. In fact, on the whole, Rossi's main arguments tend to hang in a historical and political vacuum, as if the problems she presents only just began with the Reagan administration.
I tend to agree with the conservatives who've reviewed this book and were taken aback at its biases. While I would characterize myself as a socialist, reductive physicalist (very much the polar opposite of a conservative christian), I still found it odd that she blamed republicans and conservatives for so much and liberals for so little. After all, Clinton was the [...] who sold the U.S. on NAFTA. Instead of being partisan, I wish she had laid the blame for the world's problems where it squarely lies: on the selfish, greedy, decietful, and murderous nature of our ruling elites throughout the world who every day wage class war on the majority of the world and remain a very real peril to the life and livelyhood of nearly all of us.
Rossi should be speaking truth to power, but instead she ends up schlepping for her party. I'm not impressed with gang mentality.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book but could have been presented better, August 13, 2006
This review is from: What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running the World (Paperback)
This book is jam packed with information I didn't know about our government and corporations. Ms. Rossi is a bit shrill in tone and because of that I'm sure she ended up just preaching to the choir. Even moderates will be turned off by her finger-shaking. If you can ignore that, you can learn a lot. I'm a liberal but I didn't appreciate her sarcastic approach.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
42 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who's Really Running the World, March 16, 2006
This review is from: What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running the World (Paperback)
Melissa Rossi's research is impeccable. She has provided the evidence I wish I'd had access to when Bush began his assault on this democracy and then on the rest of the world in 2001 with the pre-emptive war against Iraq. After that, Rossi illustrates that, beginning with his proposed "faith-based initiatives" program, Bush ignored the Senate's refusal to approve the bill by signing it into law by executive order in 2002. Since then, he has continually encouraged his Christian Evangelical base to push for additional changes at the state and local levels.
Rossi is articulate, informative, and accurate regarding the ways in which individuals, organizations, and corporations that we would not want running our country are influencing the Executive Branch to do things their way. The evidence is overwhelming and frightening, but yet we're better off knowing the truth than blindly accepting that our rights and freedoms are being protected.
Despite its enlightening tone, readers who would not like to wade through 378 pages filled with a myriad of facts and figures to absorb would have difficulty getting through this book. However, they could still find information about specific events and movements that would be useful to them if they want to understand how our future is being jeopardized.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
