"For reasons of state" and "American power"; both written at the height of the vietnam war are chomsky at his most passionate. The works are obvoiusly written when the hopes of real change in the power structures of society seemed like a real possiblity. The condemnations of US policy are fast and furiuos as Chomsky turns scrutizing State dept papers into calls to action. There is no punches pulled here, hopeful thoughts of future stuctures of human freedom are disscussed in chapters with titles such as "notes on anarchism."
Agree with him or not this is one of the few political books that can actually raise your heart rate.

Arundhati Roy bristles at being called a "writer-activist" (too much like sofa-bed, she says), but the rest of us should be grateful that the author of "The God of Small Things" is taking on the establishment, here and in India.

Part of Mrs. Roy's greatness is that she is not colored by the partisan debates that influence the dialogue on issues such as globalization in America. She is an equal-opportunity critic, taking on Clinton and Bush. Although other authors pledge no allegiance to either side of the aisle, Roy has a fresh perspective, and has a take on globalization that I haven't found in works by American authors.

This book is set up as a collection (a rather random collection) of several essays. The first essay gives a wonderful perspective of globalization (ie. the expansion of American business interests) from a foreign perspective. She examines the impact of the global economic movement on the actual people being affected by it at the lowest level. She reveals the influence of the privatization of the electric industry through the eyes of India's poorest citizens.

The second essay goes in-depth into politics in India, primarily addressing the enormous number of dams being built in the country, and the impacts (economic, environmental, social) that they will have. Mrs. Roy explicitly recounts how Enron scammed the Indian government into building new power generators, and how this will cost India hundreds of millions per year while lining the pockets of American business interests.

Critics will say that "Power Politics" is devoid of hard facts and analysis, but there can be no doubt that this book is worth a read. She may lack the economic background of Stiglitz, but her passion and style, in addition to her ability to articulate the important issues in the globalization debate in a readable manner, will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in global economic expansion.

Roy is a great author, and she commands her energy to making us aware that we really should evolve as a race. Her insights in the "Bush Regime" are scary, I did not know how terrorizing Rumsfeld/Cheney policies were. If you are consverative or liberal, this is a book to read. It is time we (Americans) really take back our terrible (double standard) foriegn policies which are now affecting us regular Americans.

In Power Politics, Arundhati Roy gives us a window onto India from which we can see international corporations, the judicial and political systems of India, and most poignantly, the human beings affected by these powers. In this depiction of the opposition of power and people, those of us who are sympathetic to people will have our eyes and our hearts opened by this amazing young writer's clear, polite emphatic voice, while those aligned with the power side may find a rationale to dismiss Ms. Roy's prose with the callousness of the Enron executive who authorized $13 million to 'educate' Indian politicians about the virtues of dams that would destroy the homes of millions and shackle the people to enormous long term debt in exchange for the capacity to produce energy at prices far beyond the people's capacity to pay. Of course, the implications of Power Politics go beyond the borders of India. Preferable to The Cost of Living which is also excellent.

In her newest offering Arudhati Roy , the writter of the widely known and multi-awarded The God Of Small Things presents a deep , careful study on the impact " progress " has made on the life of thousands of people in her country . She describes an India with many cultural and racial entities where the goverment keeps building huge dams in the valley of Naramada with no certain strategy and essential reasons . What she seems to be asking is this : " even if these dams are useful , does it eventually worth sacrificing so many people's lifes and houses for them ? " . In the end the book wins the reader not so much because of Roy's writing style but thanks to the power of her own personallity . She's a young , beutiful and wealthy woman who never forgets though the poor part of her country's population . Instead , she keeps standing by them with her writtings and her actions .

The Cost of Living is the second book by Arundhati Roy, but is her first non fiction book. Her first book was the phenomenally good novel The God of Small Things . The Cost of Living is a collection of two essays.

The first is "The Greater Common Good" and deals with the building of the Big Dams in India (Roy is native to India and still lives there). Roy writes about some of the politics involved in the building of the dams and makes clear enormity of the human cost and the lives lost and displaced. Roy is vehemently against this ongoing project, and while this essay only presents one side of the argument, it is still a well crafted and well written and emotionally compelling argument.

The second essay is "The End of Imagination". This essay was written in 1998 shortly after India had revealed that it was doing nuclear testing. Apparently, the party line was that nuclear weaponry = patriotism = Hinduism = India. By this logic, any Indian who was not in favor of the testing was also against India itself. Flawed logic, and Roy takes the government to task focusing on nuclear testing when so much of the nation is starving, uneducated, and needs true assistance. Roy's arguments against nuclear testing are wide ranging. She discusses the fact that most of the nation is uneducated and does not know what it means to have nuclear weapons and what the negatives are. She writes against the government, lining its pockets at the expense of the nation. She writes against the United States for introducing the nuclear game to the world. The biggest loser in this game, Roy believes, is India. India believes itself to be a world player, but Roy explains the national delusion and why this is simply not the case.

This is a short, but interesting book. Roy is an excellent writer and while her thoughts skirt the extreme, she writes with a passion that cannot be ignored.

Arundati Roy turns from fiction, momentarily, we hope, to non-fiction.

That is not to say that 'The Cost of Living' lacks power of imagination. The book consists of two short essays that centre on two very problematic situations in the current India- and they are issues worth writing about.

The essay that most enthralled me (much to do with it being in the news a lot) was the essay which dealt with India's nuclear testing, and the tension it has created not only in the region, but in the world. She investigates the Wests' hypocrisy- do they have a right to lambast the Indians, when they themselves have done the same thing- the exact same thing? It is very interesting.

Like the great novelist she is, Roy writes with compassion, an intense focus, and is very articulate. It is worth reading this book even if you have no interest in Indian politics, because it is a matter of life and death, hypocrisy, possible armageddon and the hole that humankind insists on digging itself into.

Strongly reccommended.

Arundhati Roy has again taken aim at globalization and the injustice she sees inherent in the world today. She provides the type of information that doesn't come close to making the nightly news in America. From war to economic integration, Roy tackles the sacred cows in America with no remorse.

My main complaint about "War Talk" is that the book is a collection of material that has been already been published. Among the six essays, no new writing was done for this work (aside from some editing and minor additions). Most of this material is available in other works or on the Internet, and anyone who has read some of Roy's material online will likely be disappointed to see much of it replicated here. The best piece in the collection is an essay that was written as an introduction to Noam Chomsky's book "For Reasons of State." Because they were not written as a single work, these essays overlap each other quite a bit. They also overlap with some of the essays in Roy's previous book, "Power Politics." If you've read that book, this collection will add little new insight.

However, these criticisms do not diminish the power of Roy's writing. She pulls no punches, and she is scathing in her attacks. Her message is clear: corporate globalization is imperialism, America is an empire, and there is nothing free about free markets, free speech, or free press. She addresses issues ranging from the abuses of the ruling BJP in India against Muslims to the non-accountability of the WTO, IMF and World Bank. The final essay "Confronting Empire" is a call for revolution, and it outlines the prescription for affecting change.

"War Talk" provides a rehash of the commentary that we have come to expect from Arundhati Roy. It also provides a rehash of her passion, and that makes this book worth reading.

As Americans being exposed to the recycled garbage churned by local media every day we surely are not accustomed to listening to the bitter reality of politics around us and that too explained so beautifully.

Contrary to one of the detractors writing here, Arundhati Roy's voice is heard far too little in this country. Unlike the right-wing, war-loving bigots (among whose number we can count the aspiring dictator George Bush), Roy nails the facts to deliver a series of damning critiques.

Bidwai and Vanaik are the spokesmen of Indian fringe left -- a group which, unfortunately, wields much more influence than it deserves. Their argumentation is reflexively driven by what is to the advantage of China (the darling of Indian Marxists even though its economy is unabashedly capitalist and its prisons churn out goods for export to the West) and what will lead to India's fragmentation. It is still a worthwhile book to read to get to understand the extreme left in India.

Having used this text for University, I highly recommend this book for understanding what is happening in South Asia's nuclear arms race, particularly since it was printed after the nuclear test detonations by India and Pakistan in May 1998. Though the content is sometimes personal opinion, there is enough verifiable information in regard to the leadup, execution and aftermath of May 1998's tests.

India and Pakistani are both nuclear powers with an active nuclear arsenal. They have also engaged in both declared and undeclared states of war with each other since achieving statehood and independence from colonial control. Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik are two of India's respected and experienced journalists, and long-time anti-nuclear activists who in New Nukes: India, Pakistan And Global Nuclear Disarmament examine the causes and consequences of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests. They provide a sound and informative framework for understanding the global context in which these two nuclear nations operate and map out a new approach to nuclear abolition, in which not only South Asia's newest nuclear states, but the oldest and mightiest Western nuclear powers would begin serious efforts toward full and complete nuclear disarmament. The trigger to nuclear holocaust is no longer the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, but rather between the two poverty stricken, overpopulated, resource depleted, religious intolerant, border disputing nations of India and Pakistan. The disarmament proposals laid out in New Nukes, may be their, and our, last best hope of avoiding a nuclear holocaust and the extinction of the human race.

The author uses the power of her language beautifully to potray the problems associated with Dams. Though she claims NOT to be a city-basher, if one goes by the text of the book, she does seem one. For every "statistic" she has mentioned in the book, there could be an "anti-statistic". If what she claims is true, then Land which is covered under an irrigation project as a result of a Dam is doomed. The Narmada dam which is one of the main targets in the book when ready is bound to solve the drought problem if and when ready. While one has to agree with the facts mentioned by her, it is ridiculous to take such an extremistic view of Dams.

It is rare to find such a beautifull combination of prose and protest. The subject is the construction of dams on rivers in India and the effect they have on the people and enviroment. Sounds dry, i know, but Roy magically turns this into a touching living story.

This is a very short book, but a very important one. It speaks about things far beyond it's obvious subject, showing the opression of the single by the goverment and role we have in stopping this maddness.

This is the third of these guides that I have read, and they have all been very good so far. (The other two were about The Poisonwood Bible and The Shipping News.)This one follows the same basic idea. There is a chapter about the author, which is very interesting about Roy's upbringing and political background. And then there is a bigger chapter which looks at the book itself. It's intelligent without being difficult to read, and it's clear without being patronising or dumbed-down. This is a long way away from the Cliffs Notes I used to use back in school! But my favourite chapters in each of these books that I've read so far are the ones about the reviews that the novels got when they were published. It is just fascinating to see how the literary establishment reacted to this novel when it first appeared, and how some people picked up on the resonance of it immediately, and others seemed to miss the point. Anyway, I enjoyed this book very much, and I learned quite a lot about Indian literature in the process.

It seems to me that the author is trying to create a fairy tale or myth that combines Western and Eastern archetypes: the loss of an idealized world like the Garden of Eden, the crucifixion of innocents, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a fairy world like that in some of Shakespeare's plays, the twin motif from Eastern literature, incest, etc. Thus the writing style which employs devices typical of oral literature such as repeated catch phrases which act as mnemonic devices. Whereas I admire such creativity and found the book very entertaining and original, I felt the author needed to trust the audience to read between the lines without having to telegraph the symbols and her point so obviously. The problem is that such artificiality and contrivance diminish the emotional response of the reader. The book's events are meant to be horrifying, but they don't seem real or convincing. Also, most myths seem to be distilled down to their essence; such a concentration seems nec! ! essary to provide the universal significance. Elements of realism distract. Roy seems to want to have it both ways--to be mythic and realistic simultaneously. A simpler approach might have been more effective. She was at her best in the comic scenes, for example the welcome home "play" for Sophie Mol. She's at her worst with the adult Rahel and Estha's self-indulgent moping. However, the book contains a lot pleasures and is definitely worth reading.

This is unique literary accomplishment. The author's lyrical narrative flows as a stream of consciousness revelation. Her sentence structure has poetic license. Time is fluid. We are offered intriguing glimpses of her characters who describe themselves at one point as characters in a play. With her chapters as scenes, Ms. Roy draws us deeper and deeper into her book with the plot she spins. Her characters are interesting and the locale is exotic. They are Untouchables and Touchables, third world Communists, inbred Syrian Christians- Indians with modern attitudes that carry the influences of a colonial past, Marxism, and American culture impinging on the third world in a set compete with native fauna and flora to add to the fascination. I especially enjoyed her droll humor-the irony she sees in small things and everyday situations. Overall however,the book's focus is several tragedies that are interconnected and their lifelong effects on the characters. As she says: "Life can change in a moment." There is a lot of depth and meaning-take your time with these 321 pages...

I have read The God of Small Things twice. The first time, I was merely trying to grasp what the impending doom might be, made explicit from the very beginning of the novel. My second visit allowed me to take the time to submerge myself into a world that I have missed - Asia - the vividness, the sensuality, and the memory of a child's linguistic universe.

Roy's deconstructed plot revolves around Rahel and Estha, two precocious children born into a world where social hierarchies control the destinies of all lives. Along for the ride is Baby Kochamma, their conniving aunt whose tragic romantic past (or so she sees it) has transformed her into a bitter spinster. She will play an important role in their downfall. Their uncle Chacko whose failed intermarriage has exiled him from his beloved daughter, the young Sophie Mol. Then there is Ammu, the twins' single mother, beautiful, enigmatic, and dangerously defiant of the social customs imposed by Indian society. Their most beloved friend is Velutha, a servant of the household whose various intellectual and handiwork talent is limited by virtue of his status in the caste system. The plot primarily encompasses the days leading up to the drowning of Sophie Mol and the discovery of an scandalous secret that destroys various lives. To tell you anything more would reduce the impact of this novel because this novel isn't really about plot. It is based on character studies and theme.

Throughout Roy's narrative, you will notice the recurring mention of hierarchies that determine who should be best loved, the values that we impose on a single being's lives by virtue of their birth rights, and the all-encompassing power of love. From the beginning, the twins, at the age of seven (eight?) are aware that because Sophie Mol is half-white, she is more loved. It speaks to more than just the caste system in India, or even the post-colonial consequences to native populations. It explodes the myth that we do not place restrictions on love because we impose it in every society: by class, by economic status, by race, by lineage, when it should not and cannot be pliable to any regulations. Roy's novel is a slow-burning and poetic journey into brutality and passion, and a treaty on the politics that control our personal choices.

A note of Roy's language - she does an excellent job of entering a child's universe, their honesty, and their ability to see things as they are rather than what should be concealed and silenced. She uses Capital Letters (Love) to emphasise various themes that reminds me a little of Hobbes and his was a political treaty. Perhaps that was what Roy intended.

This novel is not easy. The time period switches back and forth to the adult and child Rahel. It has a terrible end but you come away having gained an insight into post-colonial Indian culture, albeit upperclass, and the reward of having lived through the eyes of two marvellous children whose lives will touch and transform you.

Tunku Vardarajan in the India today says, India: a Mosaic is a con job. The word "mosaic" suggests a variety in the book. Instead the book talks about "bleeding-hearted" essays. According to him, the articles in the book were published elsewhere and are "profoundly stale." From my reading of the book i found the book to be a "do not buy."