From the Author
This book built momentum slowly for many years, but didn't coalesce until after the emergence of Barack Obama. Although the narrative sometimes reaches back as far as the 19th century, I've mostly tried to project a post-Cold War and post-modern point of view.
Returning to Vermont in 2008 after two years as Executive Director of Pacifica Radio, I was invited back to a local weekly radio show. As in the past, my segment was a news roundup, along with a weekly rant. Afterward, I would use the notes from broadcasts to develop new story ideas. So, let me start by thanking Phinn and FP from The Howie Rose Show, first at WRUV and later at WOMM in Burlington, for providing a spot where I could exercise my imagination, test my perceptions, and get immediate, often hilarious feedback.
The chapter on Haiti would not have been written without Robin Lloyd and Doreen Kraft, who first pointed me toward that strange, tragic island in the 1970s. Like other parts of the book, that material evolved as I covered developments for print and online outlets. Material in "Cracks in the Iceberg", "Secrets R US," and "Enron's Global Scam," for example, appeared in investigative and feature articles for Toward Freedom, Metroland, and The Vermont Times. The remaining chapters in part one were originally developed for Vermont Guardian, a weekly newspaper launched with Shay Totten in 2004, and as columns for United Press International.
The Presidential Death Match concept explored in part two owes a debt to the animated TV show Celebrity Death Match, a brutally funny animated series in which claymation versions of famous people faced off in the ring. Why not a presidential version, I thought, since campaigns have become so intertwined with entertainment. The earliest material appeared in The Vermont Times and on the Alternet website.
Regime Change began to take shape when I started to blog in 2008. My site, Maverick Media, provided a platform for new articles and campaign coverage. Many pieces subsequently appeared on websites such as ZNet, Common Dreams, Countercurrents, and Truthout.
If there is a central thrust, it is the pervasive nature of perception management. Part Four, some of which first appeared as Chapter 14 in Project Censored 2008, sums up what I've observed over several decades. It also completes the thought begun in the introduction.
From the Inside Flap
2011 Maverick Media E-book edition
Copyright 2011 © by Greg Guma
All rights reserved
Also by Greg Guma
The People's Republic: Vermont and the Sanders Revolution
Uneasy Empire: Repression, Globalization and What We Can Do
Spirits of Desire
Inquisitions (and Other Un-American Activities)
Nonviolent Warriors: Dave Dellinger and the Power of the People
Bread & Puppet: Stories of Struggle and Faith from Central America
Passport to Freedom (with Garry Davis)
The Vermont Way
About the Author
Greg Guma has been a journalist, editor, historian, activist and progressive manager for over four decades, working throughout the US. His tenure as CEO of Pacifica Radio followed a career that began in the 1960s.
As a journalist he broke award-winning stories that raised questions about the activities of the intelligence community and private military contractors. His books include The People's Republic: Vermont and the Sanders Revolution (1989), Passport to Freedom (1992, with Garry Davis), Uneasy Empire: Repressions, Globalization and What We Can Do (2002), and Spirits of Desire (2005), as well as the play Inquisitions (and Other Un-American Activities), and scripts for documentaries on Haiti, Guatemala, Vietnam, and Bread & Puppet Theatre.
He has one son and lives in Burlington.
![Big Lies by [Greg Guma]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513IdegrCEL._SX260_.jpg)
