Intense and passionate Ms.Arundhati Roy writes...

"Donald Rumsfeld said that his mission in the War Against Terror was to persuade the world that Americans must be allowed to continue their way of life. When the maddened king stamps his foot, slaves tremble in their quarters. So, standing here today, it's hard for me to say this, but The American Way of Life is simply not sustainable. Because it doesn't acknowledge that there is a world beyond America...."


What do you think?

Even though the subject is very heavy, it is a quick, yet thought-provoking read. What I appreciate most about this book is Roy's insightful, foreign perspective on US politics - what does the rest of the world think of us (at first I wrote "those") selfish Americans? Her humor intermixed throughout allows the reader to feel a sense of hope. This book highlights the author's intelligence and wit. I recommend it to everyone!!

Auther of "the God of Small Things" describes another world, maily in India and The Middle East, condemn US policy of war, abusing power to make the world even worse to live.
برای کسانی که رمان "خداوندگار چیزهای کوچک" را خوانده اند، باور کردنی نیست که نویسنده ی جوان آن، خانم "روی" این چنین به مسایل منطقه آشنا باشد. او در این کتاب به مسایل مردم در هند و خاورمیانه پرداخته و عمدتن به طرفداری از صلح و علیه روحیه ی جنگ طلبی قدرتمداران آمریکایی در سده ی حاضر، مستندات بسیاری از واقعیت های منطقه را برای آنهایی مطرح کرده که جهان را از نگاه سیاستمداران آمریکایی می بینند.

i liked some of these essays well enough, didn’t love others or personally did not get much from them. the titular essay was particularly affecting: “which society will welcome me and allow me to be the hooligan i am here, at home?” the strongest ones to me were the writings on indian politics (war talk, ahimsa, and democracy), although i’m biased because indian politics is such a huge blind spot for me that i found these (especially democracy’s descriptions of the 2002 gujarat riots!) especially worthwhile. it’s interesting to read these in the context of modi as prime minister…

it’s kind of weird to read the work of a leftist writing in the 2000s, a generally terrible time to have any sort of critical opinion against the bush administration, because the current discourse feels like it’s kind of moved past the recountings of US interventionism and critiques of the IMF/WTO/World Bank that roy emphasises so often. i do think for a different reader this might be really insightful…maybe i can get my mom to read this.

also, i did not like roy’s use of a certain slur against vietnamese people in the essay about chomsky…i get why she did it but i really think she could have been a little more cautious about that. just a weird choice. overall left with a fairly good impression of arundhati roy’s prose, if not the strength of her political analysis. need to check out some of her fiction sometime!

Forget the American media, if you want to know what the world thinks and what's really going on out there read this. It's an eye-opener

Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide in the past 100 years. Blinded by ideology

Very post-colonial but an interesting perspective on high politics by an intelligent woman who should be getting more attention

Excellent. Though it would be helpful for the reader to be versed in the current affairs and politics of India for a few of the essays, there are universal truths throughout.

"Any government's condemnation of terrorism is only credible if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent, resonable, closely argued, nonviolent dissent. And yet, what's happening is just the opposite. The world over, nonviolent resistence movements are being crushed and broken. If we do not respect and honor them, by default we privilege those who turn to violent means."

With so many intelligent and passionate people out there, certainly the time is nigh to unite and make a change in this world...

a fabu trash pick in my neighborhood. great to read about the nuclear weapons struggle in india and pakistan, to hear voices of this struggle from other contexts. yay free books!