"Focusing its concern through the often-neglected role of literature in shaping and influencing these forces, this powerful collection of essays addresses the complex new ways that international power exercises control over all aspects of life-from new forms of public governance to the construction of private identities. The book acknowledges the emergence of new theoretical models of imperialism and empire, but it sets them firmly within the longer history of the analysis of the post colonial. It explores contemporary concerns such as global ecology, queer theory, and "the War on Terror" and...

The notion that public intellectuals in the US are in decline has again become fashionable with their portrayal as trapped between Academe and the “real” world. The questions addressed by this volume are: How can the voices of scholars and erudite thinkers penetrate the globalized, corporate media and how does media receive and represent the contribution of intellectuals to the academic and public spheres, all the while recognizing what Paul Bové calls the “the nonidentity of intellectuals as a group.”

Dedicated to the memory of Howard Zinn, whose life work is a model for...