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Michael Parenti

マイケル・パレンティ

Maikeru Parenti

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1933-09-30 （New York City, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
East Harlem, New York City → Berkeley, California, U.S.

Career

Occupations
political scientist, historian, author, cultural critic, activist, educator
Active Years
1957-2025
Affiliations
University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, University of Vermont, Sarah Lawrence College, Stony Brook University, University at Albany, SUNY, University of Canterbury, Institute for Policy Studies (visiting fellow)
Memberships
Project Censored (judge), Independent Progressive Politics Network (advisory), Education Without Borders (advisory), New Political Science (advisory editorial board), Nature, Society and Thought (advisory editorial board)
Influenced By
Antonio Gramsci, Marxism
Influenced
leftist media critics and scholars, Matthew Alford (one influenced writer)

Education

City College of New York
undergraduate (details unknown)
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Brown University
History (graduate)
Degree: MA
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
Held a teaching fellowship
Yale University
Political Science (PhD)
Degree: PhD
Year of Graduation: 1962
Country: United States
Dissertation: Ethnic and Political Attitudes: A Depth Study of Italian Americans

Awards

Career Achievement Award
2003
Organization: Caucus for a New Political Science
Result: 受賞
Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition
2007
Organization: U.S. Representative Barbara Lee
Result: 受賞
Lifetime Achievement Award – American Book Awards
Organization: American Book Awards
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Democracy for the Few

1974 political science / non-fiction

A critical analysis of the workings of American government focusing on the relationship between economic power and political power; used widely as a textbook.

class strugglepolitical economycritique of power

Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media

1986 media criticism / non-fiction

Examines bias and the politics of news reporting across major media events, documenting patterns of conservative slant and structural influences on news.

media criticismideologynews bias

Dirty Truths: Reflections on Politics, Media, Ideology, Conspiracy, Ethnic Life and Class Power

1996 essays / non-fiction

A wide-ranging collection of essays on politics, media, ideology and class, including autobiographical sketches and controversial analyses.

cultural criticismconspiracy skepticism/examinationacademic freedom

Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

1997 history / political thought

Analyzes ideological roots of fascism and critiques anti-communist narratives, offering a controversial defense of certain aspects of 20th-century socialism.

critique of anti-communismfascism studieshistorical re-evaluation

To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia

2001 international politics / commentary

Critically examines the Yugoslav conflicts and NATO intervention, questioning Western media narratives and arguing that intervention was justified by political and economic motives.

critique of imperialismrole of mediahandling of ethnic conflict

Bibliography

  • The Anti-Communist Impulse (1969)
  • Trends and Tragedies in American Foreign Policy (1971)
  • Democracy for the Few (1974)
  • Ethnic and Political Attitudes: A Depth Study of Italian Americans (1975)
  • Power and the Powerless (1978)
  • Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media (1986)
  • Make-Believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment (1992)
  • Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America (1993)
  • Against Empire (1995)
  • Dirty Truths (1996)
  • Blackshirts and Reds (1997)
  • To Kill a Nation (2001)
  • The Assassination of Julius Caesar (2003)
  • Superpatriotism (2004)
  • Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life (2013)
  • Profit Pathology and Other Indecencies (2015)
  • Quotations From Michael Parenti (2024)

Adaptations

  • Appearance in documentary The Panama Deception (1992)
  • Appearance in documentary Liberty Bound (2004)
  • Appearance in documentary Fall and Winter (2013)
  • Appearance in documentary The Weight of Chains (2010) and sequel (2014)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Marxist analysisdirect, polemical argumentative stylepedagogical, textbook-like exposition
Recurring Motifs
media criticismcritique of imperialism and interventionexposure of class and power structurescountering anti-communism

Legacy

Michael Parenti has been an influential leftist thinker and media critic in the United States, while also attracting strong controversy over his writings on the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia. His works continue to influence college curricula and leftist commentary.

Academic Societies

  • New Political Science (advisory)
  • Project Censored (associated)

Archives

  • Michael Parenti Political Archive (Internet Archive)

In Popular Culture

  • Punk band Choking Victim uses samples from Parenti's lectures on the album No Gods, No Managers
  • Chilean hip-hop artist Ana Tijoux features a section of Parenti's lecture in her song 'Caluga o menta'

Quotes

  • This book invites those immersed in the prevailing orthodoxy of “democratic capitalism” to entertain iconoclastic views, to question the shibboleths of free-market mythology and the persistence of both right and left anti-communism.
    Source: Preface to Blackshirts and Reds (1997)

Trivia

  • He was severely clubbed by state troopers at a 1970 protest rally and subsequently arrested and charged.
  • Ran for U.S. House in Vermont in 1974, finishing third with 7.1% of the vote.
  • Father of journalist and academic Christian Parenti.
  • His book 'Democracy for the Few' has been used as a college textbook.