"A change is needed from the values of the market to the values of participation and caring.... It will require us to persuade or to pressure those with great wealth and power that people along with all the other species that share our planet deserve a viable habitat and a voice in how it is to be used."

Chapter 1: The Costs of Modern War
The changing character of war
Destructive capabilities of weapons
Nuclear weapons
Human consequences of war
Soldiers after war
Children and war
Civilian casualties: Collateral and Targeted
People displaced by war
Landmines
Material and human costs of preparedness
United States responsibility

Chapter 2: Killing: War and the Minds of Men
War and human nature
The human psyche as a source of killing
The contexts of killing
Dehumanization and enemies
The dehumanization of the culture
The experience of combat
Glory and the sense of purpose

Chapter 3: The Hidden Structure of Violence
Structural violence
Psychological and epidemiological perspectives
Cases of structural violence by the global economy
The case of Nike in Indonesia
Corporate movement into Vietnam, Haiti, and China
McDonalds and Disneyland in Vietnam
Women, children, violence, and AIDS
Clinton in Mexico
Domestic terror
Is global corporate growth needed for jobs or for investments?
The continuum—from slaves to billionaires
Risk and the market

Chapter 4: People, Farmland, Water, and Narcotic
Food production: The impact of globalization
Hunger in the United States
Economic globalization
Biotechnology
Biotechnology and intellectual property
The privatization of water
Bechtel vs. Bolivia
Agriculture and the production of narcotics
The war on drugs
Columbia: Militarizing a social and economic problem
Afghanistan: Opium and intervention
Burma (Myanmar): Oppressive government, pipelines, and opium
The evolving story of people and land

Chapter 5: Networks of Power
What is power?
Networks of power
Network analysis: Revealing networks of power
Creating authority
Effects of concentrated corporate growth and expansion
The military-industrial complex
The industry of defense
The Bechtel Group
The Carlyle Group
Halliburton
Elite clubs: Building networks of power
The Order of Skull and Bones
The Bilderberg Group
The Bohemian Club
Think tanks, advisory boards, and councils: Creating policy and consent
Council on Foreign Relations and Trilateral Commission
National Association of Manufacturers
The Business Roundtable
The Project for the New American Century
The Defense Policy Board
The International Monetary Fund
The World Bank
The World Trade Organization
The corporatization of elections: Taking power from the people
The funding of candidates
Corporate Sponsorship
Political Action Committees
Campaign finance reform
New barriers to voting
Social exclusion

Chapter 6: RealPolitik: Strategies and Tactics for Winning
Creating the enemy
Violent and coercive tactics
The mindset of competitive games
Legitimizing global violence
Externalities: The acceptability of risk
End goals of global games: The expansion of markets
Ideological beliefs
Sanctions for force: The opposition to communism
A “permanent war economy”
The Marshall Plan
Economic aid as a political tool
Creating the enemy
Ideological irony
Tactics to defeat communism in the third world
Creating governments with the corporate agenda
Economic intervention
Bypassing legal constraints
Overthrowing governments
Iran: A model removal of a popular leader
Guatemala: Supporting violent military rule
Venezuela: Undermining a democracy
East Timor: Conspiring and aiding violent suppression
Iraq and the Middle East: Preemptive military action
The Vulcans expand the agenda
Concentrating power in the executive
The matter of torture
Mercenaries: Privatizing the military

Chapter 7: Disinformation
World War I and propagand
The Committee on Public Information
The muckrakers and big business
Media monopolies and the effect on journalism
Lack of government regulation
Using fake groups and fake news
The effect on journalism
Political and economic agendas: The modern-day manufacture of consent
The Defense Department’s media contracts
The Rendon Group
The Lincoln Group
Official manipulation: The Office of Strategic Influence
Official manipulation: The Office of Special Plans
The media’s failure to examine questions about the events of 9/11
Historical examples of media manipulation and the justification for war
Strategic media: Embedded journalism
Strategic media: The Pentagon’s Doha Media Center
Media complicity: Spinning the War on Terror
Eliminating journalists
Spinning the story
Journalism matters: The effect of propaganda
News on the home front: Domestic and environmental issues
Hiding scientific warnings of danger

Chapter 8: Values and Habits that Maintain a Violent System
Selling the Image of being for the People
Electoral Games
The Public’s Role in Protecting Centralized Power
Why are These Core Values Supported by Ordinary People?
Interests Served by the Dominant Paradigm
American Greatness and Exceptionalism
Why We Allow Concentrated Corporate Power
The Humble Origins of Wal-Mart
Divine Politics and Signs of Fascism
A Western Worldview – In Service to Whom
A Summary and Somewhat Hopeful Prognosis