A book by Michael Parenti. In writing a history book that is overtly political, he takes the position that given that history is essentially the history of politics and that politics by definition is not neutral, it is not possibly to write intellectually honest history without taking a political position. From this one can conclude that all history texts support one political perspective or another, but most of them lie about doing so.

The book is an economic interpretation of the founding of the United States of America. He presents a critique of class power in political institutions in the USA, and emphasizes the political economy of public policy and who gets what. There is actually nothing particularly radical or new to anyone with a more than passing familiarity with the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Which is to say that it is full of things that the anyone who went to an American school has never heard before.

The contents are as such:

  1. Partisan Politics
  2. Wealth and Want in the United States
  3. The Plutocratic Culture: Institutions and Ideologies
  4. A Constitution for the Few
  5. The Rise of the Corporate State
  6. Politics: Who Gets What?
  7. Health, Environment, and Human Services: Sacrificial Lambs
  8. Unequal before the Law
  9. Political Repression and National Insecurity
  10. The Mass Media: For the Many, by the Few
  11. The Greatest Show on Earth: Elections, Parties and Voters
  12. Who Governs? Leaders, Lobbyists or Labor?
  13. Congress: The Pocketing of Power
  14. The President: Guardian of the System
  15. The Political Economy of Bureaucracy
  16. The Supremely Political Court
  17. Democracy for the Few