I so thought this would be better and more inspiring than it was. It was filled with stereotypes of Americans and Westerners (apparently none of us have read Chomsky or have a conscience). For such a poetic, insightful and nuanced writer to write essays and speeches of such limited subtlety was a huge disappointment. I know she has done great work as a humanist and activist, but this book felt like a waste of time to me as a reader.

Roy does not shy away from saying what's on her mind. As always.

I haven't actually read this book. I started the book; I was looking forward to it. The author wrote The God of Small Things and won a Booker prize. I had to put the book down when it made the following analysis on page 81 on how to resist "empire" meaning - I guess the U.S.
It said,"The good news is we're not doing too badly. There have been major victories. Here in Latin America you have had so many...In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez is holding on despite the U.S. Government's best efforts."

Informative, challenging, and frightening work by an incredible writer. It's not fair that someone can write/speak so eloquently and also write incredible fiction (see The God of Small Things). This woman is amazing.

The book is a collection of speeches made to different audiences, so some of the points she makes are repeated in multiple chapters. I didn't find that too bothersome (noticed other reviewers did). It's actually a great book to read a chapter at a time, leaving time between for them to sink in. The speeches were presented in 2003-2004, during the second Bush's first term as president. Reading it in 2009 is just scarier because there have been a few more years to prove her points.