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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 330.122 EAN: 9780312427993 Edition: 1st ISBN: 0312427999 Label: Picador Manufacturer: Picador Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 720 Publication Date: June 24, 2008 Publisher: Picador Release Date: June 24, 2008 Studio: Picador Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you. "At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld. There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling No Logo, will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --Kim Hughes Product Description: In this groundbreaking alternative history of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free-market economic revolution, Naomi Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, Klein shows how Friedman and his followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement their radical policies. As John Gray wrote in The Guardian, "There are very few books that really help us understand the present. The Shock Doctrine is one of those books." Book Description: In her ground-breaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it “disaster capitalism.” Covering Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, and New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic “shock treatment” losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman’s free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement’s peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. By capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, Klein argues that the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years. Average Rating:
 Rating: - The Dark Side of Unrestricted CapitalismThe Shock Doctrine is a fascinating exposé on the dark side of unrestricted capitalism when it is implemented through blackmail, extortion, military force, and the suppression of democracy. Naomi Klein provides numerous examples over the last 50 years of countries who upon falling into financial and economic crises, desperately turn to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for financial and economic assistance to stabilize and rebuild their economies. These countries soon discover that ... Read More Rating:  - Nothing new here, move alongThe only thing that is true, and has been known in fact for a century, is that dramatic events cause change. On this I can agree with Ms. Klein, and only that. Where this book careens off into left field, is by blaming this all on Milton Friedman and labelling it Friedmanism - all on the basis of a quote, and completely ignoring the history of the Nazis and the Kristallnacht, or the Marxists and the July Days in Russia. Milton Friedman made an observation (why certainly - he's Jewish, ... Read More Rating:  - Eye openingI would describe myself as reasonably well informed, economically literate, a Wall Street investor and Democrat. I found this book eye-opening, although I believe Klein is pushing a point of view which is frequently incorrect; e.g. privatization is not always bad, and Great Britain under Thatcher did achieve prosperity, while the Chinese middle class is vastly expanding. It is not so clear as Klein seems to imply that if the US had done the right things, the Iraqi invasion would have resulted in ... Read More Rating: - More relevant than most Americans will ever knowThis book is an essential read considering the current economic situation. The vast majority of people including me have no idea of the details of how harmful some economic policies been. This book brings many of those details to light in a way that is both understandable and enthralling. The direct role that the American government and University of Chicago economists have played in both Chile and Russia's disastrous attempts at capitalism are shocking. In fact there are so many things that are shocking, ... Read More Rating: - Essential ReadingConsidering the global political climate and the way policy decisions are created these days (witness the latest "crisis" of the economic variety in the US, for one), this book ought to be required reading for pretty much anyone who can or will at some point cast a vote, think about joining the political process, or breathe some amount of oxygen in the next 40 years. Understanding the underlying principles of who wields and forces agendas and power across the continents seems to be something that everyone ought ... Read More |
