The most important text in Judaism after the Old Testament— available for the first time in Penguin Classics

One of the most significant religious texts in the world, The Talmud is a compilation of the teachings of major Jewish scholars from the classic period of rabbinic Judaism. In a range of styles, including commentary, parables, proverbs, and anecdotes, it provides guidance on all aspects of everyday life. This selection of its most illuminating passages makes accessible to modern readers the centuries of Jewish thought contained within. Norman SolomonÂ's lucid translation from the Bavli (Babylonian) is accompanied by an introduction on The TalmudÂ's arrangement, social and historical background, reception, and authors.

War Made Easy cuts through the dense web of spin to probe and scrutinize the key 'perception management' techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion of American wars in recent decades. This guide to disinformation analyzes American military adventures past and present to reveal striking similarities in the efforts of various administrations to justify, and retain, public support for war. War Made Easy is essential reading. It documents a long series of deliberate misdeeds at the highest levels of power and lays out important guidelines to help readers distinguish a propaganda campaign from actual news reporting. With War Made Easy, every reader can become a savvy media critic and, perhaps, help the nation avoid costly and unnecessary wars.

While many commentators have drawn connections between the miserably uncritical treatment of the Bush administration by the media following the September 11th attacks and the ability of the administration to initiate the invasion and occupation of Iraq based on nonexistent 'weapons of mass destruction' and equally nonexistent ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, fewer have sought to map out the entire American media landscape in the era of the 'War on Terror,' as independent journalist Finnegan does here. The picture that emerges is, if anything, worse, with even the self-bestowed accolades for the media's coverage of Hurricane Katrina withering under scrutiny. Beyond criticizing the structural and cultural factors that preclude media skepticism towards the powerful, she also documents the many ways that the American media has come to serve essentially as a propaganda organ for government, whether through the dissemination of unattributed government produced 'video news releases' or through the acceptance of the Pentagon's 'embedded' reporter program. As Finnegan describes, this lamentable situation has permitted wars of aggression, curtailment of civil liberties, and a host of other societal ills. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Many critics of the invasion and occupation of Iraq are as inclined to blame the media as they are President Bush, given the uncritical echoing of the administration's pro-war propaganda points by the fourth estate. Long-time media critic Solomon (executive director, Institute for Public Accuracy) goes even further by showing how the US media has served the same agenda for decades and by deconstructing the main themes found in the media's coverage of war and peace, themes that manufacture enough consent among the American public that president after president is able to engage the nation in unnecessary wars. These themes include the 'Hitlerization' of the official enemy, the playing up of putative humanitarian motivations, ignoring or downplaying such factors as oil and corporate profits, describing opposition to the war as support of the enemy, the inherent heroism of our soldiers versus theirs, and the humane practices of the US military. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sedici capitoli, ciascuno incentrato su una perenne e ripetitiva menzogna volta a falsare la percezione degli eventi, come il tentativo di diffondere l'idea che opporsi alla guerra significhi schierarsi con il nemico o la visione dell'avversario come un essere barbaro e disumano, per giungere all'affermazione della necessità della 'guerra giusta', unico mezzo per contrastare il terrorismo. Affermazioni ricorrenti e identiche a se stessa dal Vietnam a oggi. 'Leader politici e mezzi di comunicazione - sostiene Solomon - non mentono mai, a meno che non si considerino menzogne le omissioni, le statistiche presentate in un certo modo, le affermazioni prive di fondamento, l'intenzionale offuscamento, le dichiarazioni fuorvianti'.