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Summary: solid book from Pilger
Comment: Constistent in quality by Pilger's standards.
A lone voice in the dark though...
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Summary: Fearless outspoken worldclass investigative journalism
Comment: This was the first Pilger book I read. A friend gave me his copy who insisted I read it immediately. This was completely out of character for him and so I read it and haven't felt the same about the world since.
Pilger relentlessly fills the pages of this remarkable book with assertions that seem incredulous compared to our sanitised media coverage of the world. But what makes this undismissable is that he references almost every painful fact. Respectfully and uniquely treating his readership as peer reviewers of his work rather than accepting automatons.
Pilger's unveiling of some of the world's worst comtemporary injustices is a beacon of truth in the stormy world of political corruption, greed and mass manipulation. This sort of book takes both enormous effort as well as immense courage to publish and demands the attention of a far wider readership.
I have read most of the other reviews on this website and they all seem to have given this book the maximum 5 star rating. If you've come this far I respectively ask you how can you not read it now?
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Summary: Torch-bearer for investigative journalism and human rights
Comment: One of the great tragedies of recent times is the death of quality journalism; so much of the press is given over to hype, scandal, trivia, or spin, so much of the press is owned and controlled by so few politically powerful magnates, there appears little room for investigative reporting or thorough analysis. There are a few, inspiring exceptions.John Pilger has an incisive writing style, a sharp focus, and apparently endless energy. For years, now, he has been castigating our political and economic masters, exposing the abuses of power and uses of corruption which dominate international relations and internal politics. In his "New Rulers", Pilger shines his investigative light into areas the press is usually happy to abandon to darkness. It's a well judged package - looking at the plight of the indigenous population in Australia, at ethnic conflict in East Timor, at Turkish abuses of Kurds, at Western abuses of Iraq and Afghanistan, and at the tensions of the Middle East. It's a world in which globalisation is not just a word, it's a world where globalisation means manipulation of silence - thousands of people will die today, tomorrow, and the next day because it is to the advantage of the West and the political status quo. This is a timeless enquiry. The abuses Pilger exposes have not gone away. They will not go away until investigative journalism, or crusading journalism of Pilger's quality becomes the yardstick by which we judge our newspapers, magazines, television and radio coverage. Implicit in Pilger's analysis is the recognition that we, each of us, have to get up and make our voices heard. We have to demand greater press freedom, we have to demand better standards, and we have to take to the streets and ballot boxes and protest ... until people like Blair and Bush are forced to take note and not simply try to explain away the suffering of the world as a necessary toll in their war against 'terrorism'.
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Summary: Keep Doing What You Do Mr Pilger
Comment: I'm reader with a similar background to John Pilger, in that I was raised in a small industrial town in Australia (I've been to Kurri Kurri from where John Pilger hails) and I moved to the UK where I have lived for over a decade. As a result, I find much in Pilger's work that resonates.The chilling thing about the book is that, having read it when it was first published and having re-read it just the other day, I find that much of what John predicted in 2002 is undeniable fact today. That means the research was impeccable, as was the analysis. If you are new to John Pilger's work, read everything of his that you can find. I have made a habit of clipping newspaper articles he has written and stashing them away in the back of his books. They form a solid analysis as a collection. This book is a sourcebook of truth. Read it. Re-read it. Follow up the references. You will never see the world in quite the same light ever again. That's a good thing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A book to read
Comment: Coming from a person that is well read on the Middle East, Asia, and other political issues across the, there is only one comment to share with potential readers. Read this book. Regardless of the reason you are interested in reading the book, it is truely one of the extremely rare books that I reccomend as a "Must Read". It opened my eyes to issues and matters that I was not aware off despite my extensive library. John Pilger's book compelled me to continue reading continuosly until i finished it in less than a day... it revolves around Indonesia, Iraq, Australia, and the failings of the international governing & humanotarian bodies such as UN, WHO and teh American influence on such puppet organizations. Must Read.
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