Michael Parenti

[CosmikRoger]

Never heard of him, but my 17 year old son, who finds money as hard to come by as his old man, has bought three or four of his books. Do I need to worry about anything or point him in another direction?

 

[petee]

"His book Blackshirts and Reds defended the Soviet Union and communist states of the 20th century from criticism, arguing that they were morally superior compared to capitalist states, that the problems of the Soviet Union were caused by the Russian Civil War and capitalist interference, and that "Left anti-Communist" and "pure socialist" critics failed to offer any alternatives to the Soviet Union's "siege socialism"."

wiki

 

[CosmikRoger]

Thanks Petee, Blackshirts and Reds is one of the books in front of me right now, but the strapline on the cover mentions "rational fascism" which my distinctly average reading compréhension made alarme bells ring.

 

[JimW]

Bit mad and fostered a lot of kids; Loco Parenti, they used to call him.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I found his Yugoslavia book interesting. His son Christian did an excellent book on the prison-industrial system.

 

[Idris2002]

Doesn't he have bad Alzheimer's now?

 

[Jeff Robinson]

I read Blackshirts and Reds at around 17! Never did me no harm (actually on reflection, confiscate it from him now).

 

[hitmouse]

I found his Yugoslavia book interesting. His son Christian did an excellent book on the prison-industrial system.

Random tangent, but I first heard of Christian Parenti cos Alternative Tentacles released audio versions of some of his work, and I found it a bit confusing cos Christian Parents sounds like it could be the name of the kind of smartaleck subversive punk band that might be on Alternative Tentacles. Dunno why they'd call it Christian Parenti rather than Parents, but maybe to make it more Italian or something. Anyway, as far as I know, Christian Parents is still unclaimed as a name for a punk band. As is Christian Parenti, if you don't mind people getting your band mixed up with the bloke who wrote a book about the prison-industrial complex.

Anyway, yeah, Michael Parenti is definitely a lot more Stalinist than my tastes go, but you definitely don't have to worry about your kid going far-right.