This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

1. 1. Against Empire

   

   A pointed critique of American imperialism arguing that U.S. global power is driven by corporate and elite interests and sustained through military intervention, economic domination, covert operations, and media propaganda; it examines historical and contemporary examples to show how imperial policies undermine democracy, fuel inequality and racism at home and abroad, and calls for popular resistance and international solidarity to challenge empire.

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2. 2. Democracy For The Few

   

   A pointed critique arguing that the U.S. political system is largely controlled by corporate, wealthy, and political elites who shape policy and public opinion to protect their interests; institutions like the media, political parties, courts, and the military serve to limit genuine popular power, manufacturing consent and marginalizing working-class and minority voices. The book analyzes mechanisms—campaign finance, lobbying, propaganda, economic inequality, and state violence—that reproduce elite dominance, challenges myths of pluralism and meritocracy, and urges organized grassroots movements and democratic reforms to reclaim power for ordinary people.

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3. 3. Power And The Powerless

   

   A trenchant critique of how elites manufacture consent and sustain inequality, arguing that political and economic power operates through propaganda, institutions, cultural myths and bureaucratic routines that present exploitation as normal and necessary. It shows how media, intellectuals, elections, and state force work to marginalize dissent and depoliticize citizens while concentrating wealth and decision-making in corporate and ruling-class hands, and it urges grassroots organization and democratic struggle as the path to expose and overturn these arrangements.

4. 4. Fascism In A Pinstriped Suit

   

   A brisk, polemical analysis arguing that modern corporate capitalism cultivates a form of organized, anti-democratic power resembling fascism: corporate elites, allied politicians, and compliant media concentrate wealth and decision-making, stifle dissent and labor, promote militarism and social division, and use racism and fear to justify attacks on democratic institutions and welfare. The book traces how economic elites shape policy and public opinion to protect their interests, critiques neoliberal deregulation and privatization, and warns that unchecked corporate rule undermines civil liberties and social justice while manufacturing consent for authoritarian measures.
5. 5. Land Of Idols

   Political Mythology in America

   

   A sharp critique of U.S. political mythology that exposes how corporate media, elites, and institutions manufacture consent through myths about democracy, capitalism, national virtue, and anti-communism, while marginalizing dissent and disguising economic inequality and imperialist policies; the author unpacks historical and contemporary examples to show how ideology turns particular interests into assumed common sense and urges democratic revitalization through informed critique and popular struggle.

6. 6. The Terrorism Trap

   September 11 and the Politics of Fear

   

   Argues that the official ‘‘war on terror’’ narrative is used to justify imperial interventions, militarization, and domestic repression by obscuring how Western states have supported, trained, and armed violent groups for geopolitical aims; exposes double standards that label similar acts differently depending on the actor, critiques media propaganda and political opportunism that stoke public fear, and urges attention to underlying causes of violence—foreign domination, economic injustice, and covert state violence—rather than relying on fear-driven policies that erode civil liberties and democratic accountability.

7. 7. Superpatriotism

   

   A pointed critique of American exceptionalism and aggressive nationalism, arguing that patriotic rhetoric is often used to justify empire, militarism, and the narrow interests of economic and political elites; the book traces how history, media, education, and political culture manufacture consent, conceal class and corporate power, rationalize interventions abroad, and stigmatize dissent at home, while urging a more democratic, internationalist perspective that recognizes inequality, racism, and the contradictions between stated ideals and actual policy.

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8. 8. The Assassination Of Julius Caesar

   A People's History of Ancient Rome

   

   A sharp, revisionist history that rejects elite propaganda and argues Caesar was a popular reformer whose programs for debt relief, land redistribution, veterans’ settlement, and broader political inclusion threatened Rome’s oligarchy; his murder by senatorial conspirators is presented as an act of class defense rather than pure republican virtue, and the assassination’s aftermath—propaganda, civil war, and the destruction of popular reforms—paved the way for the consolidation of autocratic power.

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9. 9. The Culture Struggle

   

   A trenchant critique of the cultural battles that shape politics and public opinion, arguing that mass media, corporate power, and entrenched elites manufacture consent and steer debates away from class interests; the book traces how ideology, education, religion, and the arts are mobilized to legitimize inequality while conjuring distractions in the guise of“culture wars,” and it calls for a democratic, grassroots counterculture that centers social justice, material conditions, and collective struggle as the basis for meaningful change.

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10. 10. Contrary Notions

    The Michael Parenti Reader

    

    A collection of polemical essays that challenges conventional accounts of American history, politics, and foreign policy by arguing that elite interests, corporate power, and systemic class dynamics shape media narratives, government actions, and public misconceptions. It exposes myths about democracy, capitalism, and national exceptionalism, links racism and imperialism to economic motives, and defends grassroots resistance and democratic alternatives. Using historical evidence and sharp critique, it seeks to equip readers to question official explanations and recognize the structural roots of inequality and violence.

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11. 11. History As Mystery

    

    This book argues that conventional historical narratives are often deliberately mystified to legitimize the interests of elites and conceal the roles of class, imperialism, and economic power; it examines how propaganda, selective memory, and institutional bias shape public understanding of events—especially U.S. foreign policy and interventions—while highlighting popular resistance, labor movements, revolutions, and the real motives behind supposed altruistic or democratic actions, and it calls for a critical, materialist reading of the past that reveals the social forces and conflicts that conventional accounts obscure.

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12. 12. The Face Of Imperialism

    

    A pointed critique of modern imperialism that traces how economic exploitation, military intervention, political manipulation, and cultural propaganda are used to secure corporate and state interests abroad; it documents U.S. interventions and support for client regimes, the role of international financial institutions and multinational corporations in subordinating developing countries, and the media and ideological mechanisms that normalize domination while marginalizing resistance. The author frames imperialism as a systemic feature of capitalist states rather than an aberration, and urges democratic, anti-imperialist organizing and international solidarity as the means to challenge entrenched power and build more equitable alternatives.

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