Factual errors, ham-fisted analysis, and contradictory assertions distinguish the work of the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and author

The Imperial Messenger reveals the true value of this media darling, a risible writer whose success tells us much about the failures of contemporary journalism. Belén Fernández dissects the Friedman corpus with wit and journalistic savvy to expose newsroom practices that favor macho rhetoric over serious inquiry, a pacified readership over an empowered one, and reductionist analysis over integrity.
The Imperial Messenger is polemic at its best, relentless in its attack on this apologist for American empire and passionate in its commitment to justice.
About the series: Counterblasts is a new Verso series that aims to revive the tradition of polemical writing inaugurated by Puritan and leveller pamphleteers in the seventeenth century, when in the words of one of them, Gerard Winstanley, the old world was "running up like parchment in the fire." From 1640 to 1663, a leading bookseller and publisher, George Thomason, recorded that his collection alone contained over twenty thousand pamphlets. Such polemics reappeared both before and during the French, Russian, Chinese and Cuban revolutions of the last century. In a period of conformity where politicians, media barons and their ideological hirelings rarely challenge the basis of existing society, it's time to revive the tradition. Verso's Counterblasts will challenge the apologists of Empire and Capital.

"Fernández skewers empire's messenger Tom Friedman. . . .Few books on current affairs merit being called page-turners; because of Fernández's witty and punchy style, this one does." - The Electronic Intifada

"[A] meticulously researched book, written with wry wit and an unrelenting critical eye, that should be read by both Friedman's fans and critics alike; not just for what it reveals about his journalism or the New York Times, but for what it says about the state of American journalism as a whole. In short, if New York's 'paper of record' wanted to start rectifying its own journalistic deficiencies, it would do well to start by replacing Friedman with Fernández." - Toward Freedom

"There is no wittier or sharper account of Thomas Friedman's intellectual and moral atrocities than Belen Fernández's The Imperial Messenger." - Outlook India

"[C]arefully argued, relentlessly well-written polemic ... there is something compellingly honest about Fernández's attention to the material context within which Friedman's ideas find succor." - Jadaliyya

"[R]aises thought-provoking questions about the objectivity of mainstream media when it comes to US economic and foreign policy interests." - Asia Times

"[S]hould be the companion volume to any and all reading of Friedman." - Counter Currents

"Journalist Belén Fernández's new opus Imperial Messenger effectively eviscerating the NYT's Thomas Friedman (whom Alexander Cockburn, not one to pull punches, has called "the silliest man on the planet") strikes me as an example of the kind of book that a supine establishment,mainstream media herd must exert some effort to avoid paying even minimal attention." - Our Man in Boston

"Fernández subjects Friedman to careful scrutiny and assigns him failing grades for logic, consistency, and integrity. After reading Fernández dissect Friedman column by column, the unavoidable question is: How did Friedman ever pass himself off as a journalist? Why isn't Belén Fernández the New York Times' lead columnist? The answer is clear. Fernandez won't lie for the establishment." - Institute for Political Economy

"[A] systematic, detailed take-down of the neo-liberal bias, myopic US-Israeli chauvinism, and general intellectual shallowness that almost scream to be noticed in Friedman's writing. Throughout, [Fernández] bolsters her arguments with detail so profuse and tightly packed that a brief review such as this can hardly do it justice. Deserves to be read widely and discussed in depth. After doing so, one may be much less prepared to say the same for the work of Thomas Friedman." - War in Context

"Those searching for a more thorough and academic destruction of Friedman's career and philosophy would enjoy The Imperial Messenger, an incisive dismantling of the man and his message." - Gawker