Here is a provocative collection of essays by one of America's most astute and entertaining political analysts. Many of them are revised versions of commentaries that ran recently as a radio series, broadcast by Michael Parenti over forty community stations in the United States and Canada, and on Radio for Peace International. Unlike mainstream pundits who offer superficial observations on the passing events and personalities of the day, Parenti deals with the underlying, enduring forces in U.S. society and the political economy, providing a valuable critical framework for understanding what passes for "the news."

Brief in length but rich in content, the essays in America Besieged show how we are being misled and harmed by those who profess to have our interests at heart. Parenti writes: "We are indeed a nation besieged, not from without but from within, not subverted from below but from above. The moneyed power exercises a near monopoly influence over our political life, over the economy, the state, and the media. Some Americans are astonished to hear of it. Others have had their suspicions, although they may not be quite sure how it all adds up. This book invites the reader to stop blaming the powerless and poor and, in that good old American phrase, start looking where the money is. That is the first and most important step toward lifting the siege and bringing democracy back to life."