On successive Mondays, Mar. 9 & 16, at 7:00 p.m., UFPPC's study circle, Digging Deeper, will examine two books that demystify social, political, and economic myths about American society and its global role: Michael Parenti, Democracy for the Few, 8th ed. (Wadsworth, 2007); and Michael Hudson, Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance (Pluto Press, 2003).[1]  - - Michael Parenti holds a Ph.D. in political science from Yale; his volume "tries to show how democracy is repeatedly violated by corporate oligopoly, and yet how popular forces have fought back and occasionally made gains."  --  Hudson has a Ph.D. in economics from NYU; his book "aims at providing the background for U.S.-European and U.S.-Asian financial relations by explaining how the U.S. Treasury bill standard came to provide America with a free lunch since gold was demonetized in 1971," and is an updated version of a 1972 version that "was the first to criticize the World Bank and IMF for imposing destructive policies on the world's debtor economies, and to trace these policies to U.S. diplomatic pressure."  --  Both works offer important insights into the contemporary crisis.  --  More information below....