Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. --Milton Friedman The shock doctrine is the unofficial story of how the free market came to dominate the world, from Chile to Russia, China to Iraq, South Africa to Canada. But it is a story radically different from the one usually told. It is a story about violence and shock perpetrated on people, on countries, on economies. About a program of social and economic ...
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Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. --Milton Friedman The shock doctrine is the unofficial story of how the free market came to dominate the world, from Chile to Russia, China to Iraq, South Africa to Canada. But it is a story radically different from the one usually told. It is a story about violence and shock perpetrated on people, on countries, on economies. About a program of social and economic engineering that is driving our world, that Naomi Klein calls disaster capitalism. Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting in disaster zones, Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically, and that unfettered capitalism goes hand-in-hand with democracy. Instead, she argues it has consistently relied on violence and shock, and reveals the puppet strings behind the critical events of the last four decades. The shock doctrine is the influential but little understood theory that in order to push through profoundly unpopular policies that enrich the few and impoverish the many, there needs to be some kind of collective crisis or disaster - either real or manufactured. A crisis that opens up a window of opportunity - when people and societies are too disoriented to protect their own interests - for radically remaking countries using the trademark tactic of rapid-fire economic shock therapy and, all too often, less metaphorical forms of shock: the shock of the police truncheon, the Taser gun or the electric prod in the prison cell. Klein vividly traces the origins of modern shocktactics back to the economic lab of the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman in the 60s, and beyond to the CIA-funded electroshock experiments at McGill University in the 50s which helped write the torture manuals used today at Guantanamo Bay. She details, in this riveting - indeed shocking - story, the well-known events of the recent past that have been deliberate, active theatres for the shock doctrine: among them, Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973, the Falklands War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; and, more recently, the September 11 attacks, the Shock and Awe invasion of Iraq, the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. And she shows how - in the hands of the Bush Administration - the war on terror is a thin cover for a thriving destruction/ reconstruction complex, with disasters, wars and homeland security fuelling a booming new economy. Naomi Klein has once again written a book that will change the way we see the world. The world is a messy place, and someone has to clean it up. --Condoleezza Rice, September 2002, on the need to invade Iraq George's answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chainsaw. Which I think is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well. --Laura Bush From Chile to China to Iraq, torture has been a silent partner in the global free market crusade. But torture is more than a tool used to enforce unwanted policies on rebellious peoples; it is also a metaphor of the shock doctrine's underlying logic. Torture, or in CIA language coercive interrogation, is a set of techniques designed to put prisoners into a state of deep disorientation and shock inorder to force them to make concessions against their will. ...The shock doctrine mimics this process precisely, attempting to achieve on a mass scale what torture does one on one in the interrogation cell. ...The original disaster - the coup, the terrorist attack, the market meltdown, the war, the tsunami, the hurricane - puts the entire population into a state of collective shock. The falling bombs, the bursts of terror, the pounding winds serve to soften up whole societies much as the blaring music and blows in the torture cells soften up prisoners. Like the terrorized prisoner who gives up the names of comrades and reno
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Seller's Description:
Better then Very Good in unclipped dust jacket; some edge and shelf-wear; text clean and unmarked. 6.21 x 1.64 x 9.26 inches. Klein's explosive expose of how capitalism takes advantage of every disaster to further its political agenda; includes endnotes and an index in its 662 pages.
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Canadian Naomi Klein opens one's eyes to the consequences of Milton Freedman's idea of Capitalism, i.e., unfettered world-wide free trade, plus privatization of almost all government functions, including much of the military, thereby leaving corporations as the real power behind government. Capitalism without a social conscience with respect to the worker bees, who work for slave wages, while the greedy ueber-rich get richer and richer. Prepare to be shocked by this excellently detailed history of Capitalism from the 1950's to the present.
Rita V
Feb 6, 2012
Understanding Today's World
The book "The Shock Doctrine" is the best account I have seen which explains the policy and developments that brought us to the state we find ourselves in today. It outlines the influence that the economic doctrine of Milton Friedman of the Chicago School has had on the growth of privatization, deregulation, and unfettered wealth of corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens, indigenous peoples, and the working class. The book traces developments starting in Chile in the 1970s and continuing through such widespread areas as Latin America, the Far East, Eastern Europe, and the United States (e.g., New Orleans after Katrina).
The Shock Doctrinet is greatly detailed and well researched. For me the content is understandable without much economic background. I have found it invaluable in interpreting current events and trends (even though it was published in 2007) and wish the author would publish a "sequel" to include developments since the book was first published.
I have recommended this book to a number of people and, as a matter of fact, bought this copy to give to a friend. It's well worth the time and effort to peruse this work!
juniper1pinon
Oct 14, 2011
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalim
If someone wants a view of the US govt and others involvement both locally and internationally to maniuplate populations and plan for world wide domination, this is an excellent foundation to which one could expand in many directions. While written on a complex and historic level, this book is an incredible read that walks the reader through sound, researched beginnings into current day events.
The players are listed and parts they played. In today's political and business climate, if you've followed along at all, this will help the piece fall together. Though, being open minded is helpful, the credibility of resources is very strong. Try it. Strenghten your own resolve.
Magicats
Jan 28, 2010
The most important book you'll ever read
In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein clearly and persuasively explains so much of what was always confounding, frustrating, and downright inexplicable, especially the reasons the U.S. almost always pursues immoral, unjust, and counterproductive foreign policies. Once you've mastered the principles Klein sets forth, the workings of the world are relatively simple to understand and predict. Buy several copies of this book, as you'll want to give it to the people who matter most in your life. No one who reads this book will ever look at the world the same way again.
billy101
Jan 15, 2010
Good book but......
I have expected much more from this book, I didn't finished yet to read it, and I don't think I will.
In my opinion is not very objective, seems to have a tendency against the capitalism for itself, and not for the real problems it brought. People and not the capitalism is the problem.
Even though is always good to read something different.....