Democracy for the Few

1988, fifth edition, from St. Martin's Press
Michael Parenti
Democracy for the Few
Original price $18.00, purchase price $8.00
Good condition paperback
C

If Howard Zinn's People's History is not particularly earth-shattering these days, this book is even less so.  Parenti writes about the "plutocracy" that runs the U.S. and like Zinn he does have some "good news" passages, but much less so.  Occasionally, there's mildly interesting information, but not enough.  Also, the illustrations are weak, the original ones especially, like the cover by Eldon C. Doty, although Herblock is unremarkable as well.  In fact, the best of the lot is the well-known "Golden Rule" strip of The Wizard of Id, and that's more for the writing than the art.  Skip this book unless you're really curious about late '80s leftism.