War Made Easy and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading War Made Easy on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death [Paperback]

Norman Solomon
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.95
Price: $12.11 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.84 (19%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 3 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Thursday, June 20? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99  
Hardcover $12.64  
Paperback $12.11  
Amazon.com Textbooks Store
Shop the Amazon.com Textbooks Store and save up to 70% on textbook rentals, 90% on used textbooks and 60% on eTextbooks.

Book Description

June 23, 2006 047179001X 978-0471790013
War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key "perception management" techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war. War Made Easy is essential reading. It documents a long series of deliberate misdeeds at the highest levels of power and lays out important guidelines to help readers distinguish a propaganda campaign from actual news reporting. With War Made Easy, every reader can become a savvy media critic and, perhaps, help the nation avoid costly and unnecessary wars.

Frequently Bought Together

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death + War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
Price for both: $24.69

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

Review

Media critic Solomon (Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You) looks at the pro-war propaganda generated by the U.S. government during military interventions, emphasizing the influence of the media upon public opinion. He begins in 1965, when President Johnson crafted public messages as he sent troops to the Dominican Republic. Solomon claims that LBJ's handling of this invasion established the prototype for a media agenda employed by subsequent presidents to create public approval for their actions. He finds several formulaic messages that help persuade the public to support military intervention. These include portraying America as a fair and noble superpower, whose honest leaders work hard to avoid war, and the enemy leader as an aggressive, Hitler-like violator of human rights who will do much harm unless the United States intervenes. Solomon's timely analysis, which continues through the current war in Iraq, provides the public, analysts, and journalists with useful tips on how to evaluate the prewar messages of any administration, current or historical. Of interest to both public and academic libraries.-Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Libs., Washington, DC (Library Journal, July 15, 2005)

"An engaging book that helps explain how the myth-making machine works." (The Texas Observer, July 8, 2005)

"Brutally persuasive...a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come." (Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2005) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Norman Solomon is one of the bravest and best American journalists, especially when he is dissecting the topics of war and the media. War Made Easy exposes and explains the lies and deceptions that have misled our nation into vile and bloody disasters from Vietnam to El Salvador to Iraq; it reveals the frequent cowardice and culpability of the US media that often behaves as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. War Made Easy is a sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss."
—John Stauber, co-author of Weapons of Mass Deception and Banana Republicans

"If you don't have fun reading Norman Solomon's War Made Easy, you don't know how to have a good time. This exceptional book will drive our bonkers leaders and their mouthpieces in the US press crazier than they are already. Read one passage each night to your children to protect them from the brain-snatchers and dummy-fication zombies of America's news media of the living dead."
—Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

"If you want to help prevent another war (Iran? Syria?), read War Made Easy now. This is a stop-the-presses book filled with mind-blowing facts about Washington¹s warmongers who keep the Pentagon budget rising. It would be funny if people weren't dying. War Made Easy exposes the grisly game and offers the information we need to stop it."
—Jim Hightower, author of Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush.

"America's mainstream media didn't launch the war on Iraq, but the Bush administration sure couldn't have waged it without them. The great lesson of War Made Easy is that, alas, such journalistic malfeasance is nothing new; our media have a history of enabling Washington's foreign misadventures. Perhaps if enough people read--and act on--this book, it won't be so easy next time."
—Mark Hertsgaard, journalist and author of On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley (June 23, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 047179001X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471790013
  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Damn liberal media! David C N Swanson  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
The facts are clearly presented and documented/verified. Bonnie Phillips  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
93 of 98 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing but the Truth July 5, 2005
Format:Hardcover
Over the years, Norman Solomon has distinguished himself as one of the pre-eminent analysts of the American media and political "culture." An everyman's scholar whose knowledge derives from both exhaustive research and first-hand experience, his insights are always cogent and honest. In "War Made Easy," Solomon dissects the time-proven slogans and propaganda techniques that have been used by Administration after Administration to--in effect--motivate the American people against themselves and their own best interests--not to mention those of citizens in many other nations. And Solomon "calls out" president after president for their "dupes" and backs up his castigations with cold, hard history. His analysis of the conjunction/collusion of the media and the body politic in this process is especially enlightening...and frightening. In short, this is a book that every American who cares about kin and country should read; and every citizen who sees beyond our borders simply must. At times scathing but never preachy, "War Made Easy" is a set of tough truths for tough times. And better still, it is written for us all: One doesn't need a master's degree in politics to understand Solomon's words. A fine book by a fine human being.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing August 5, 2005
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book opens with a disturbing prologue. The U.S. media has refused to give serious coverage to the Downing Street Memos on the grounds that they are "old news." In the initial pages of his book, and supplemented by the rest, Solomon makes a case that both outdoes and undoes that claim.

Solomon outdoes the "old news" claim by providing evidence that the Bush Administration's campaign to take the country to war in Iraq on the basis of lies was remarkably similar to President Lyndon Johnson's use of the media when he wanted to attack the Dominican Republic and Reagan's when he was inclined to invade Grenada, not to mention Bush the First's when Panama was his chosen victim. In fact, Solomon draws disturbing parallels to Johnson and Nixon's lies about Vietnam, Reagan's about Libya and Lebanon, Bush the First's about the First Gulf War and about Haiti, Clinton's about Haiti, Yugoslavia, the Sudan, Afghanistan, and Somalia, and Bush Jr.'s all too recent lies about Afghanistan. There just doesn't seem to be anything new about a president taking this country to war on the basis of laughably bad lies that anyone who was paying attention never fell for.

Solomon undoes the "old news" claim by documenting how hard the media has always made it for people to be paying proper attention. Not only are the Downing Street Memos not old news to most American media consumers, who've never been told what's in them, but the facts about many past wars are still not known to much of the country. The Washington Post has never apologized for or retracted the Jessica Lynch fictionalization, but that itself is nothing new. Solomon writes:

"In July 1998 I asked a number of Washington Post staffers whether the newspaper ever retracted its Gulf of Tonkin reporting.
... Read more ›
Was this review helpful to you?
73 of 77 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Collective Conscience June 23, 2005
Format:Hardcover
The media must take a longer and more informed look at itself. We the reader need to do the same. The facts are clearly presented and documented/verified. Solomon has provided us with facts; can we conscientiously make use of them? "War Made Easy" and many other volumes and articles which are noted in the book supply us with the information we need to become fair and objective about what is printed for others to read. The text opens us to an awareness that helps to serve the objectivity which is required from all, in all walks of life, given the disastrous situations which exist today. I encourage others to read this book and put our understanding to work in whatever field of activity we find ourselves. Norman Solomon's closing insight about conscience, yours and mine, needs to become a collective conscience.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Two quotes near the end of Norman Solomon's book, War Made Easy, explain well the situation the United States currently finds itself in. The first is by Voltaire, and reads: "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit atrocities." The second, by infamous Nazi field marshal, Hermann Goering, reads: "...the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." The content of this exceptional book exposes both presidents and media outlets as having a virtually incestuous relationship in perpetrating the incarnation of these two quotes. Solomon lets no one off the hook--not either political party, not so-called "liberal media," not the US American public. If, by the title, you are tempted to think this is a book written in blind rage against the current administration, you would be incorrect. Though Solomon is clearly not a fan of the current president, he shows in a very sober way the historical continuity between President Bush's practices, and those of previous presidents. Additionally, he documents clearly the striking similarities between media coverage of the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and those of Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, and others. What makes this book somewhat unique, is that each chapter deals with a truism or myth that is pulled out of a virtual propaganda toolbox, used by the White House and amplified by the media, that creates a palatable picture of war, and why the U.S. must "stay the course.... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars superb documentary
War Made Easy presents in very clear and precise terms how presidents, too often with the compliance of an unquestioning media, lead the American people into ill conceived,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. Freeman
4.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly reminescent
_War Made Easy_ shows the step-by-step process in which the American public is frequently duped by its government into using military force to suit the ends of an administration. Read more
Published on April 2, 2008 by doc peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, compelling criticism of American media
This book inspired me to change my political affiliation from Democrat to Green. Not a big deal for the world but it took Soloman's deeply introspective and inspiring account of... Read more
Published on October 9, 2007 by Dean DeHarpporte
5.0 out of 5 stars Why have so many presidents lied to the people?
Norman Solomon is demonstrating that since World War II the US have systematically used war to defend their own interest and nothing else. Read more
Published on September 21, 2007 by Jacques COULARDEAU
5.0 out of 5 stars War Marketing for Dummies...
..could be the alternate title for this very interesting little book.

The art of selling wars is thus dissected in 10 easy lessons, that anybody can understand. Read more
Published on February 9, 2007 by Christian Toussay
5.0 out of 5 stars American propoganda arm
There is a lot of talk about media bias these days but not so much about media complicity as the president's propoganda arm. Mr. Read more
Published on January 5, 2007 by Stratiotes Doxha Theon
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Reading but Think for Yourself
This book has a bunch of strong points and weak points.

Strong Point - Mr. Solomon starts with an attack on President Johnson's handling of several military situations... Read more
Published on June 25, 2006 by John Matlock
3.0 out of 5 stars We Fall for it Over and Over!
Solomon reports how presidents take us to war, time after time, following the same old scripts:

1)America is a fair and noble superpower. Read more
Published on December 26, 2005 by Loyd E. Eskildson
2.0 out of 5 stars Why stop there?
Why doesn't Solomon write about all the lies that lead up to American involvment in WWI and WWII?Why start in 1965?Americans were being lied into wars long before 1965. Read more
Published on November 9, 2005 by Paul Forster
3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, but nothing original
I anticipated a great book from Solomon, who writes a weekly antiwar column. I have to say his book is a mild disappointment. There's nothing terribly original about it. Read more
Published on October 29, 2005 by J. Davis
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews



Books on Related Topics (learn more)

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category