In Praise of Barbarians: Essays Against Empire

Mike Davis

Haymarket Books, 2007 - History - 340 pages

The author of City of Quartz and Planet of Slums attacks the current fashion for empires and white men's burdens in this blistering collection of radical essays. He skewers contemporary idols such as Mel Gibson, Niall Ferguson, and Howard Dean; unlocks some secret doors in the Pentagon and the California prison system; visits Star Wars in the Arctic and vigilantes on the border; predicts ethnic cleansing in New Orleans more than a year before Katrina; recalls the anarchist avengers of the 1890s and "teeny-bopper" riots on the Sunset Strip in the 1960s; discusses the moral bankruptcy of the Democrats in Kansas and West Virginia; remembers "Private Ivan," who defeated fascism; and looks at the future of capitalism from the top of Hubbert's Peak. No writer in the United States today brings together analysis and history as comprehensively and elegantly as Mike Davis. In these contemporary, interventionist essays, Davis goes beyond critique to offer real solutions and concrete possibilities for change. Mike Davis is the author many books, including City of Quartz, The Ecology of Fear, The Monster at Our Door, and Planet of Slums. Davis teaches in the Department of History at the University of California, Irvine, and lives in San Diego.

Contents

• PART ONE ROMANS AT HOME: 9
• ONE THE END OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: 11
• TWO GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAYS: 16
• THREE OCCUPIED AMERICA: 22
• FOUR VERMONTS PIED PIPER: 27
• FIVE THE ANTIBUSH COMETH?: 31
• SIX JUMPING OFF THE BANDWAGON: 35
• SEVEN OEDIPUS BUSH: 38
• EIGHT WHATS THE MATTER WITH AMERICA?: 42
• NINE THE DEMOCRATS AFTER NOVEMBER: 61
• PART TWO LEGIONS AT WAR: 89
• TEN BUSHS ULTIMATE THULE?: 91
• ELEVEN THE SCALPING PARTY: 97
• TWELVE THE UNGRATEFUL VOLCANO: 103
• THIRTEEN WARMART: 112
• FOURTEEN THE PENTAGON AS GLOBAL SLUMLORD: 118
• FIFTEEN THE URBANIZATION OF EMPIRE: 122
• PART THREE THE UNEASE IN GAUL: 133
• SIXTEEN HEAVY METAL FREEWAY: 135
• SEVENTEEN CRY CALIFORNIA: 140
• RECALL THE SYSTEM: 146
• NINETEEN THE DAY OF THE LOCUST: 151
• TWENTY STRIKING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: 156
• TWENTYON EMELS NAZI MATINEE: 160
• TWENTYTWO INSIDE THE SUNSHINE GULAG: 163
• TWENTYTHREE RIOTOUS REAL ESTATE: 167
• TWENTYFOUR THE GREAT WALL OF CAPITAL: 172
• TWENTYFIVE VIGILANTE MAN: 177
• TWENTYSIX BORDER INVASION: 182
• TWENTYSEVEN ARNIE REPROGRAMMED: 188
• PART FOUR DARK WATER RISING: 195
• 50000 DEAD: 197
• TWENTYNINE THE VIEW FROM HUBBERTS PEAKAngry: 200
• THIRTY THE MONSTER AT THE DOOR: 204
• THIRTYONE POOR BLACK AND LEFT BEHIND: 208
• THIRTYTWO A RAINY DAY IN TIJUANA: 212
• THIRTYTHREE DROWNING ALL ILLUSIONS: 215
• THIRTYFOUR AT THE CORNER OF NEW ORLEANS AND HUMANITY: 227
• THIRTYFIVE SISTER CATARINA: 256
• PART FIVE OLD FLAMES: 261
• THIRTYSIX ARTISANS OF TERROR: 263
• THIRTYSEVEN STREET ILIAD: 278
• THIRTYEIGHT SAVING PRIVATE IVAN: 283
• THIRTYNINE THE GHOST SHIRTS: 287
• FORTY MALCOLMMORE THAN EVER: 291
• FORTYONE PUNCHOUT TIME: 295
• FORTYTWO HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BILL: 301
• FORTYTHREE RADICAL GRIT: 305
• FORTYFOUR RIOT NIGHTS ON SUNSET STRIP: 312
• AFTERWORD: 330
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 332

About the author

Writer, historian, and activist Mike Davis is the author many books, including City of Quartz, The Ecology of Fear, The Monster at Our Door, and Planet of Slums. Davis teaches in the Department of History at the University of California at Irvine, and lives in San Diego.

Bibliographic information

• Title: In Praise of Barbarians: Essays Against Empire; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Author: Mike Davis
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Haymarket Books, 2007
• ISBN: 1931859426, 9781931859424
• Length: 340 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / 20th Century; Political Science / Essays; Political Science / General