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by: Naomi Klein
List Price: $16.00Amazon.com's Price: $9.60 You Save: $6.40 (40%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.122
EAN: 9780312427993
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
Sales Rank: 46
Studio: Picador
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Editorial Review:
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.'
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Nothing new here, move along
The 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 opening
I 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 know
This 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 Reading
Considering 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
Rating: - Shockingly Inept Scholarship
I suggest that everyone interested in this book listen to or read the analysis of this work at Reason magazine. It goes into more detail than I can here.
Let's get a few facts straight before I move on to my major criticism of this book: First, Friedman was opposed to the Iraq invasion. She completely neglects to mention this. Second, the students at Tiananmen Square were not protesting against the free market---they published a list of demands and turning back free market reforms was not on that list. ... Read More
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