In this impressive book, Edward S. Herman and David Peterson examine the uses and abuses of the word genocide. They argue persuasively that the label is highly politicized and that in the United States it is used by the government, journalists, and academics to brand as evil those nations and political movements that in one way or another interfere with the imperial interests of U.S. capitalism. Thus the word genocide is seldom applied when the perpetrators are U.S. allies (or even the United States itself), while it is used almost indiscriminately when murders are committed or are alleged...

The unifying theme of the essays in this volume is the increasing national and global power and reach of the market and its growing impact on all aspects of human life. The phrase "the market" denotes both the corporate institutions that are the leading and dominant factors in production, trade, and finance, and the arrangements, mechanisms, and practices that permit and facilitate the buying and selling of goods and money.

Thus, the "triumph of the market" refers to the sharp increase in power, and hegemonic position, of the dominant market participants and to the now almost...