War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death - Softcover

Solomon, Norman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 047179001X ISBN 13: 9780471790013

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2006

Synopsis

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.

About 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.

From the Back Cover:

"A sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss."
JOHN STAUBER, coauthor of Weapons of Mass Deception

You′ve heard it all before, and you will no doubt hear it again. "Our leaders will do everything they can to avoid war." "They attacked us." "Our enemy is a modern–day Hitler." "This is all about human rights." And, at some point after these and other pronouncements had echoed through the media for weeks or months, American troops marched into Vietnam, Panama, or Iraq.

In War Made Easy, Norman Solomon 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. In addition to documenting a long series of deliberate misdeeds at the highest levels of power, it lays out important guidelines to help us distinguish elements in a propaganda campaign from actual news reporting. By following these simple suggestions, every citizen can become a savvy media critic and, perhaps, help the nation avoid the next costly and unnecessary war.

"An engaging book that helps explain how the myth–making machine works."
The Texas Observer

"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 Washington′s warmongers who keep the Pentagon budget rising."
JIM HIGHTOWER, author of Let′s Stop Beating Around the Bush

"A definitive historical text . . . an indispensable record of the real relationships among government authorities and media outlets."
The Humanist

"Our media has 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, author of On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 047179001X
• ISBN 13: 9780471790013
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320