A six part (3 hour) lecture series on three audio CDs.
The most popular of all his speeches on history.
Purchase individually or get the three CD set for $25.
CD Number ONE:
THE MYTH OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS
As the United States government claims to spread democracy around the world and is deeply involved in ghost writing constitutions for other countries, the spotlight falls back on this country. Is the current US system a democracy, – has it ever been one? In The Myth of the Founding Fathers Michael Parenti takes us back to the early days of the republic. Who were the founding fathers, what were their goals in writing the US constitution? Who did they exclude and who did they favor? What was their attitude towards slavery? How many of them actually wanted to create a monarchy? And who – in the end – ratified the constitution after it was written?
THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR AND THE RISE OF US IMPERIALISM
US foreign policy of our time is clearly interventionist. From the 1950s to today, from Korea, Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and countless smaller wars in between the country has moved away from the sentiment once expressed by George Washington: “Beware of foreign entanglements“
When did all this begin? Who first expressed the desire to annex the island of Cuba – and when? The early African American emancipation movement inside the US was critical of US plans to attack Cuba. Why, their leaders asked, was the US government concerned about Spanish repression of the rights of Cubans while the repression of African Americans within the US was ignored. Why did the US attack the Philippines when it was Cuba that they wanted to take over? Why did the US give verbal support to the Cuban liberation movements against Spain while selling weapons to Spain to fight the poplar movement? The Spanish American War was an important turning point in the transition of the US to an imperial power.
CD Number TWO:
THE FUNCTIONS OF FASCISM
Parenti says that fascism is a new order and consciousness that served the same old power structure and promised to solve the ills of the many while protecting the interests of the few. He answers in detail who financed the Fascist parties and what services the fascists rendered in return. Many of the measures enacted by fascists were frighteningly similar to those enacted today: They include the privatization of state owned enterprises, reduction of corporate taxes and inheritance taxes, defeat of unions, and the suspension of civil liberties.
THE REAL CAUSES OF WORLD WAR II
Who inside Germany was resisting the rise of Hitler and why were they not supported by Britain and France? Why did the Western Allies allow Hitler to take over Austria and Czechoslovakia? Why did Britain and France refuse to enter an anti fascist alliance with the Soviet Union? Why did Britain and France do nothing while Hitler conquered Denmark and Norway even though they had finally already declared war against Germany in 1939? The West, says Parenti, saw Hitler as a bulwark against communism and the Soviet Union and was hoping that the two countries would bleed each other white.
CD Number THREE:
PSYCHO-HISTORY
A considerable number of historians, political scientists and psychologists have begun to rely on psychology to explain political phenomena. They treat individuals as driven by covert, personal emotions, distorting our understanding of political life. Using the examples of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and US President Herbert Hoover Parenti proves what is wrong with that.
BURNING OF BOOKS
The burning of books creates a powerful symbol, to this day people kill and die over such an action. In this reading from Michael Parenti’s History as Mystery a book burning story is told that is deeper, and maintained for centuries longer than any of these efforts before or after. Parenti discloses who the biggest purveyor of book burnings of the last two millennia was and how the real perpetrators and academics tried to shift the blame. (Read by Maria Gilardin)
When Parenti’s book History as Mystery was published by City Lights in San Francisco Daniel Ellsberg, who made history by disclosing the Pentagon papers and the real causes of the war on Vietnam, wrote: Michael Parenti unveils the falsified history, from the early Christian church to the present, a fascinating, darkly revelatory tale. History as Mystery contains many more intriguing chapters from the Inquisition and Joan of Arc to the way present day text books distort labor history.
Code MP001CD SET of three CDs: $25.00
Code MP001-1CD number ONE: $10.00
Code MP001-2CD number TWO: $10.00
Code MP001-3CD number THREE: $10.00
