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Description
Circle in the Darkness recounts veteran journalist Diana Johnstone's lifelong effort to understand what is going on in the world, seeking the truth about our troubled times beyond the veils of government propaganda and media deception. For Johnstone, the political is personal. From her experience of Cold War hostilities as a student in Yugoslavia, in the movement against the U.S. war against Vietnam, in May '68, in professional and alternative journalism, in the historic peace movement of the 1980s that led to the reunification of Germany, in the transformation of the German Greens from peace to war party and the European Union's sacrifice of democracy to "globalization", her critical viewpoint dissects events and identifies trends.
She recounts in detail how the Western left betrayed its historical principles of social justice and peace and let itself be lured into approval of aggressive U.S.-NATO wars on the fallacious grounds of "human rights". Subjects range from caustic analysis of the pretentious confusion of French philosophers to the stories of many courageous individuals whose struggle for peace and justice ended in deep personal tragedy, with a great deal in between.
Circle in the Darkness is a lucid, uncompromising tour through half a century of contemporary history intended especially for those who may aspire against all obstacles to change its course for the better.
She recounts in detail how the Western left betrayed its historical principles of social justice and peace and let itself be lured into approval of aggressive U.S.-NATO wars on the fallacious grounds of "human rights". Subjects range from caustic analysis of the pretentious confusion of French philosophers to the stories of many courageous individuals whose struggle for peace and justice ended in deep personal tragedy, with a great deal in between.
Circle in the Darkness is a lucid, uncompromising tour through half a century of contemporary history intended especially for those who may aspire against all obstacles to change its course for the better.
Product Details
Publisher | Clarity Press |
Publish Date | February 01, 2020 |
Pages | 444 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9781949762136 |
Dimensions | 8.8 X 6.0 X 1.3 inches | 1.3 pounds |
About the Author
Diana Johnstone, PhD, a native of Minnesota, raised in New Deal Washington, has spent more than half her life in Europe as a political observer and journalist, working for Agence France Presse, for In These Times as European Correspondent, and as press officer for the Green Group in the European Parliament. She holds a BA in Russian Area studies and a PhD in French literature. She is author of three books including Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions., and co-author with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, of From Mad to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War. Planning.
Reviews
"...a brilliant analysis of the major imperial wars of the last half century. The personal and political merge to provide a wealth of experiences and insights embedded in a profound theoretical framework." --JAMES PETRAS
"...fiercely courageous and independent reporting, historical analysis, and activism ... With her eyes on the prize, Diana Johnstone has stayed the course to oppose U.S. and Western aggression, using her critical skills to expose endless horror and insisting that a truthful understanding of historical events remains a necessary tool against murder and illegality. We are deeply indebted to her." -- JOHN MARCIANO, Monthly Review
"...A compelling, fascinating, first-hand look at our world from WW2 through the Cold War and, ultimately, to our forever wars of the 21st Century." --RON PAUL, MD, Former Member of US Congress
"Diana Johnstone spent over half a century chronicling contemporary history from the Cold War to the rise of groups such as Antifa. Her memoir, Circle in the Darkness, is not only a fascinating window into a contemporary event, but also a blistering attack on the Left, which she argues, correctly, betrayed its historical role as a champion of social justice and peace, replacing it with the boutique activism of identity politics, political correctness, and what has become known as humanitarian intervention." CHRIS HEDGES
"Diana Johnstone's book Circle in the Darkness is a brilliant analysis of the major imperial wars of the last half century. The personal and political merge to provide a wealth of experiences and insights embedded in a profound theoretical framework."
--JAMES PETRAS
"Circle in the Darkness is one of the great personal accounts of the anguished decline of our uncivilization, both a riveting eye-witness account of many of the horrors and perfidies, and a primer for students of history and all those struggling to not only dismantle the beast, but to prepare us for what follows it. Read it and weep. And smile at the follies. And shout 'Yes!' as light bulbs flash in your mind." -ERIC WALBERG
"Johnstone's recollections span the period between the Depression and the current moment, and bring to life in poignant detail the most significant events in Europe for the entire post-World War II era, and particularly the interface of the U.S. with Europe, with valuable reflections on events in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa as well." --RICK ROZOFF, Author and Editor, STOP NATO
"Diana Johnstone is a superb reporter of a kind and calibre that barely exists today. Her principled, eloquent memoirs are often touching, and wise, and bracing in their truth in an age of deceit. I salute her." --JOHN PILGER, award-winning Australian journalist, author and broadcaster/documentary maker
"Diana Johnstone's just published book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher, is the best book I have ever read, the most revealing, the most accurate, the most truthful, the most moral and humane, the most sincere and heartfelt, and the best written. Her book is far more than a memoir. It is a history that has not previously been written. If you want the truth of the last 60 years in place of the contrived reality constructed for us by controlled explanations, it is in this book." --PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
"...fiercely courageous and independent reporting, historical analysis, and activism ... With her eyes on the prize, Diana Johnstone has stayed the course to oppose U.S. and Western aggression, using her critical skills to expose endless horror and insisting that a truthful understanding of historical events remains a necessary tool against murder and illegality. We are deeply indebted to her." -- JOHN MARCIANO, Monthly Review
"...A compelling, fascinating, first-hand look at our world from WW2 through the Cold War and, ultimately, to our forever wars of the 21st Century." --RON PAUL, MD, Former Member of US Congress
"Diana Johnstone spent over half a century chronicling contemporary history from the Cold War to the rise of groups such as Antifa. Her memoir, Circle in the Darkness, is not only a fascinating window into a contemporary event, but also a blistering attack on the Left, which she argues, correctly, betrayed its historical role as a champion of social justice and peace, replacing it with the boutique activism of identity politics, political correctness, and what has become known as humanitarian intervention." CHRIS HEDGES
"Diana Johnstone's book Circle in the Darkness is a brilliant analysis of the major imperial wars of the last half century. The personal and political merge to provide a wealth of experiences and insights embedded in a profound theoretical framework."
--JAMES PETRAS
"Circle in the Darkness is one of the great personal accounts of the anguished decline of our uncivilization, both a riveting eye-witness account of many of the horrors and perfidies, and a primer for students of history and all those struggling to not only dismantle the beast, but to prepare us for what follows it. Read it and weep. And smile at the follies. And shout 'Yes!' as light bulbs flash in your mind." -ERIC WALBERG
"Johnstone's recollections span the period between the Depression and the current moment, and bring to life in poignant detail the most significant events in Europe for the entire post-World War II era, and particularly the interface of the U.S. with Europe, with valuable reflections on events in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa as well." --RICK ROZOFF, Author and Editor, STOP NATO
"Diana Johnstone is a superb reporter of a kind and calibre that barely exists today. Her principled, eloquent memoirs are often touching, and wise, and bracing in their truth in an age of deceit. I salute her." --JOHN PILGER, award-winning Australian journalist, author and broadcaster/documentary maker
"Diana Johnstone's just published book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher, is the best book I have ever read, the most revealing, the most accurate, the most truthful, the most moral and humane, the most sincere and heartfelt, and the best written. Her book is far more than a memoir. It is a history that has not previously been written. If you want the truth of the last 60 years in place of the contrived reality constructed for us by controlled explanations, it is in this book." --PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
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