As I've mentioned before, Empire is a popular topic these days in Amerikkka.

At some point I will review some of the seminal books on this important topic. A few that I would highly recommend now are:

Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy.

John Hobson's Imperialism is regarded as a classic on the topic, even though it is now over a century old. If you go to that link, you'll find the entire book archived online, which is great, since it's hard to find, and expensive if you do.

Speaking of centennials. I have it on good word that Multinational Monitor is about to serialize excerpts from the great forgotten classic, Sin and Society by the great sociological historian, Edward Alsworth Ross. (The tip for doing this came from Morton Mintz, the former Washington Post reporter/editor who wrote America, Inc.)

Having read some excerpts, I must say, I am thoroughly entertained by Ross' book. There has to be a name (genre) for this type of essay. Social criticism doesn't quite cut it. It's much more biting, and it's too serious to be satire.

Reminds me of Mencken, Philip Wylie (Generation of Vipers). Closest we have now, I suppose are some bloggers. Don't ask me who.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we've helped launch a new web site called CROCODYL (short for "Collaborative Research on Corporations") -- a kind of activist wiki of dirt on your favorite corporate targets. If it grows, that site will be the go-to repository of basic information on any company. Pretty cool.