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What are readers saying about The Shock Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism?
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-03 10:17:23.
(Language: English)
 
This should be required reading for anyone who wants to have a serious discussion about political science, economic policy, and modern global history. The discourse about this book has only served to strengthen Naomi Klein's observations and theses. I have read a number of attacks from the right side of the political spectrum about this book (I'm looking at you, Economist), and not one of them has assailed any of the factual examples Klein provides to support her thesis of disaster capitalism. They are using conventional wisdom and preconceived biases against Klein due to her previous work and known leftist political views in order to cast off the book as an anti-free market screed. In actuality, she leaves her own political views out of this book for the most part (you can still feel classic Naomi Klein here and there though), and she just presents fact after fact. Many of the criticisms I have read of this book are from people who admit to having not even read it, so there is no way they can possibly understand the points she makes. But for those who have read and criticized it as a left-wing polemic, they are either not paying attention while reading, or they are simply choosing ignorance over understanding. I say this because I have seen no critic even bring up this vital thesis contained in the book: corporatism, disguised as "free-market" capitalism, has proven time and time again to be at odds with democracy. Disaster capitalism has been necessary to push through radical right wing policy because people don't like these policies and they always vote against them. I could go on forever about this book...but I suggest you read it with a highly analytical eye. Her research assistant has been putting up the source documents cited in the book on the website which is a wonderful resource for those of us who want to do further research: www.theshockdoctrine.com 
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-13 12:47:14.
(Language: English)
It shows how the Chicago school of economy under Friedman created an ideology that governed the IMF and World banks into favoring dictatorships that either created disaster or benefited from it (Louisana) in order to serve global corporations controlled by a few rich people to the detriment of many ordinary people.It shockingly shows how McGill University's Dr Cameron invented modern torture techniques using electrochoc of the brain and how the USA spread its use in the world, especially in Latin America (Argentina, Chile, to name a few).Freedom is not synonymous with free-for-all markets.Perhaps (personal comment) as John Locke, the philosopher, was the inspirator of the American constitution, we need a new philosophy, a new set of guidelines to govern the present globalization.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-05 11:27:34.
(Language: English)
Not exactly a light and fluffy read but this is a great piece of political non-fiction. Although some sections repeat history that I've already read about (Chilean coup), there is lots of recent information about the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the War in Iraq, and the subsequent privatization of services, that I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in politics. Tons of facts here that have to be known, like the aftermath of the tsunami and the resorts built on the shores of Indonesia after the waves hit. This isn't exactly a book you'll plow through, but it's pretty awesome. It's another excellent book by Naomi Klein.
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Sean posted a review at 2007-10-16 08:19:40.
(Language: English)
Klein tracks the history of the exploitation of crisis and disorder to hammer through neo-liberal economic reforms by crony-capitalists, bypassing democracy by taking advantage of disoriented populations. So, the chaos in Iraq is intentional, so that Iraqi's are too off-balance to be able to take part in the reconstruction of their country, which is instead being done by U.S. corporations, who are raking in billions. Iraq is just the latest and most blatant case in a history of these scenarios which began in Chile in the early 70's. Incensed intelligent fury at its best.
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Nathan posted a review at 2008-02-02 05:04:34.
(Language: English)
The Shock Doctrine is one of the most important, and most terrifying, books you will ever read. It is the comprehensively researched and compellingly argued history of the dark side of modern global free-market capitalism. Klein shows how the free-market fundamentalist prescriptions of influential economist Milton Friedman (deregulation of industry, privatization of public assets, elimination of government spending on social services) have inspired a group of corporatist ideologues to rise to the highest reaches of power in both the American government (Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld) and the international institutions that rule the global economy (IMF, World Bank, WTO). Essential to this view is that lasting economic reform can be most effectively implemented only in response to a national catastrophe. Klein shows how nation after nation has been devastated by neoliberal economic “reforms†imposed on peoples who have been “shocked and awed†into submission by overwhelming catastrophe, whether in the form of “natural†disasters resulting from global climate change (tsunamis, hurricanes), American-sponsored “regime changes.†or war. She shows how dissent has been controlled in each case by the most brutal forms of repression, murder, and torture. Klein takes us around the globe from Chili, to Russia, to South Africa, to SE Asia, to New Orleans, to Israel, to Iraq, and many other places detailing the consequences of the rise of disaster capitalism. She goes on to document how a globally unrestricted and unending War on Terror is simply the logical extension and natural environment of the disaster capitalism complex. The global economy as a whole is now increasingly dependent on industries that profit on the prospect of biological and environmental catastrophe and unending war (whether in terms of prevention, implementation, or reconstruction); industries in which the rulers of the world are deeply invested.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-25 08:23:51.
(Language: English)
Klein's book is a critique of the practices of governments, corporations and international agencies which profit from fear and disaster by following the theories of Milton Friedman. It is a (perhaps overly) long, involved read but worth it. I reject the right/left polarization of the 20th Century. I think labeling this "left wing" is ridiculous. Calling it "drivel" is unfair. It is an important work. This reinforced my belief that rigid political or economic ideology is as misguided and far more dangerous than religious fundamentalism.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-28 03:10:25.
(Language: English)
This is a disturbing book and one which will polarise debate. The book is an outright attack on the economic theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of economic thought that he founded and embedded into American policy. In the book she shows how special interest have used the advent of cataclysm to pursue far right wing economic agenda, polarising societies into the rich and poor, raising the cost of living and lowering living standards for the many starting with the brutal military dictatorships in South America, in Thatcher’s Britain after the Falklands conflict and more recently in America after 9/11 and Iraq after the invasion. The book is overly long and doesn’t have the same weight as similar works by Chomsky. She attempts to interpret past events through the narrow vista of her own hypothesis and things are never that simple. For all her faults the book is still worth reading and I defy you not to come away from this book a little more Keynesian.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-12 05:35:38.
(Language: English)
This book is an impressive exposé on the disaster that ensues when capitalism is left completely unchecked to exploit and weaken the poor and reap bigger and bigger profits at the expense of the masses. Klein puts many historical events into the context of shock therapy to show how disaster capitalists try and re-make the world to the betterment of the super rich. The book wraps up kind of abruptly, but the writing and the topic is extremely riveting. I would recommend it to anyone who thinks the free market is the answer to anything. At the same time, it is not anti-capitalist, only anti-Friedman-style capitalism.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-05-10 07:39:12.
(Language: Spanish)
Un análisis detalladísimo y aterrador sobre los últimos 40 años de la historia económica mundial centrado en el capitalismo extremo , sus verdaderas motivaciones y sus terribles consecuencias. Excelente!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-05 11:56:08.
(Language: English)
Klein takes case studies that many of us who are involved in politics in general, and global struggles in particular, are aware of and goes into detail that connects them to the Chicago School, (Friedman fundamentalist neo-con Economics). I highly recommend it. It is not a difficult read either, Klein's journalistic style is very accessible. I particularly appreciated the chapter on South Africa. I have a much better understanding now of what went down to incapacitate the 'revolutionary' post apartheid government and how the doctrine and its means/logic continues to wreak havoc in much of the world, and not just in the developing world. Tehcnocrats and their logic of impotent efficiency is catching on as cynical reason becomes a dominant force across the political spectrum and around the world... Canada is no exception. Political Organizer, Montreal, Canada.Klein takes case studies that many of us who are involved in politics in general, and global struggles in particular, are aware of and goes into detail that connects them to the Chicago School, (Friedman fundamentalist neo-con Economics). I highly recommend it. It is not a difficult read either, Klein's journalistic style is very accessible. I particularly appreciated the chapter on South Africa. I have a much better understanding now of what went down to incapacitate the 'revolutionary' post apartheid government and how the doctrine and its means/logic continues to wreak havoc in much of the world, and not just in the developing world. As soon as t is suggested to separate out the economic from the political you know you're dealing with technocrats. Tehcnocrats, unfortunately, are all the rage; their logic of impotent efficiency is catching on as cynical reason becomes a dominant force across the political spectrum and around the world... Canada is no exception. Montreal, Canada.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-31 06:11:32.
(Language: English)
Naomi Klein’s recent book, “the Shock Doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism†is a remarkable and well-researched indictment on current neo-liberal economics. More to point, her book is not so much an attack on corporate globalization as it is an expose on the disturbing tendency of multinational corporations to infest and feed-off core functions of the state. Her book is the historic narrative of what she calls “Chicago School economics,†or radical free-market advancement. She documents how the disciples of Milton Friedman have promoted his extreme and rigid form of capitalism wherever they may gain influence—usually following a coup d'état, a war or natural disaster. Her point is that as an ideological framework, this dramatic reworking of a state’s control over its economy is prepackaged and ready for installation at the first public shock strong enough to distort reality and impede a disoriented public’s ability to resist. This book is carefully researched and provides an alternative analysis to many recent events as they have been reported through the corporatized and self-serving press. Klein begins her book in New Orleans where she sets-up her protagonists and antagonists in a fluid and imaginative manner. Describing in minute-by-minute detail the experiences of Hurricane Katrina victims, Klein introduces and remarks on then Milton Friedman’s call for a new, privatized school system in New Orleans to replace what was destroyed by natural disaster. This is the opening example of what Klein will later refer to as “the shock doctrine.†From there the book follows the history of this ideology, of Friedman’s influence in recent events and the pain and torment his clout has caused. We start in the southern cone of South America and follow this ideology’s disastrous implementation through South Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and then back to New Orleans—there declaring the potential end of his rhetorical canon, metaphorically represented with Freidman’s death in 2006. In addition Klein uses as a thematic metaphor, the outmoded notion of “shock therapy†and, it more recent manifestation—shock torture—to describe the process by which whole nations and societies come under the influence of “free-market†ideologies espoused by reactionary graduates of “Chicago School economics.†Beginning with Pinochet in 1973 to New Orleans in 2005, Klein’s overall thesis is this: it takes a dramatic “shock†to the normal function of a society for reforms as consequential and far-reaching as those Friedman advocated to gain usage. Meaning that cuts to public spending, especially in areas of health, education and infrastructure, are extremely unpopular for civil society. But under extraordinary conditions, like an overthrow in government, a war or a natural disaster, these ideas are suddenly implemented. Finally, Klein demonstrates the recent “hollowing†of government, in which core functions of the state are subcontracted to private corporations with little accountability and often operating in legal black holes, such as Guantánamo or Iraq. This too is part of the overall “shock doctrine,†in which extreme free-market ideologies are implemented in the “fog of war†when a public’s self-awareness is at its nadir. The Shock Doctrine explores in depth these historic examples and convincingly establishes this trend. She ends the book with nightmare, hypothetical scenarios in which the logic of Friedman economics are brought to full manifestation, with fortified suburbs and privatized emergency response units working in a corporatized dystopia. But her concluding chapter gives readers new hope in democratic socialism and cooperative movements in vogue in much of Latin America. The backlash against neo-liberalism there is a phenomenon Klein has reported about for a while, and her acquired expertise in this area leaves readers with optimistic prospects for the future.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-07 10:17:15.
(Language: English)
Naomi Klein's most recent work is a massively important investigation into the myriad and sometimes surprising connections between organized state repression, neoliberalism, and the emerging disaster capitalism complex.Klein opens by briefly surveying the chilling history of our own McGill's testing out electroshock as a form of torture on behalf of the CIA. The regression, infantilism, and memory loss of the victims goes on to serve as metaphor for the effects of the sort of economic shock therapy applied to countries around the world for the last forty years under the banner of Chicago School economics. Klein examines the earliest dawnings of this school, where its policies could only be enacted through force and violence under right-wing juntas, to its application by societies reeling from precipitous social change, to the eventual post-9/11 metastasis into an economic system that both breeds and feeds on spectacular disasters and great human misery. A very well researched and compelling book, this is not light reading material. It was a several week slog for me, partially because it is so dense with (important) facts, but also because it is exceptionally depressing. If you read this book, do NOT skip the last chapter, in which Klein highlights the myriad ways in which the agents of destruction listed in the book are being brough to justice and those shocked populations are beginning to rebuild their societies with an eye to surviving future shocks. Amazing work. This is history being written as it is lived. Read it and see the events of the last forty years (South American interventions, Tiananmen Square, the Iraq War, the christmas tsunami, etc) in a new and terrible light. Rarely before have I enountered a work that is both so timely and grand in scope. If you get a chance, read it. The things Klein describes are going to get worse and more common before they get better, and as she notes in her conclusion:"Memory, both individual and collective, turns out to be the greatest shock absorber of all."
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-28 02:59:13.
(Language: English)
Key books to read from 2007: Naomi Wolf's "The End of America", Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine", Al Gore's "Assault on Reason". many neoliberals are simply afraid of this book. some--the weak-minded, i suspect--simply insult klein and spew other ad hominem attacks. others pick on her "spin", which is a simple rejection of the thesis of disaster/conflict capitalism. others just trot out the tired old bullshit of trickle-down economics voodoo. i've yet to read any serious critique of her accusations of economic genocide since 9.11.1973 that justify the deaths of millions for the profit of global economic pillagers. if these critiques exist, please forward them to me. essentially, neoliberals are uncomfortable when confronted with the human misery side of their global final solution [like fukuyama's end of history]. tens of thousands of people murdered and disappeared. tens of millions left destitute and today 3 billion people live on less than $2/day. since neoliberals can live tolerating this, they sicken me. essentially, neoliberals live in a state of mental denial, much like holocaust or global warming deniers, people with a personal self-interested stake in rejecting the data of their ideology: http://dgivista.org/2007/01/thing-about-deniers-holocaust-and.html klein, however, doesn't play up the class war elements of the whole issue, but that's what we're dealing with really. ultimately this book angered me, but in a constructive way. i knew lots of the data in it, but appreciated her frame of it in her thesis, which is not beyond debate [like The Corporation's thesis is intriguing but open for constructive criticism] but is nevertheless empowering. the last chapter was great but i wish it were 5 times longer with more of a road map of how to disappear neoliberalism and its anti-social proponents. i guess that's for us to figure out. time to roll up our sleeves. if you liked this, you'll love dr. seuss's The Lorax. especially because it is less than 5% the length. :) http://apps.facebook.com/ireadit/view/bookDetail.php?isbn=0394823370&prod=BOK-10373279-2&title=The+Lorax&refuid=535728464&src=myreads&auri= and once you read this one from klein, read the new one from the other naomi and get working on stopping the soft fascism creeping into the united states, canada and other places that should know better. http://apps.facebook.com/ireadit/view/bookDetail.php?isbn=1933392797&prod=BOK-15239256-1&title=The+End+of+America+Letter+of+Warning+to+a+Young+Patriot&refuid=535728464&src=search&auri= push back folks. the bastards are on the run...with our money.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-23 06:03:09.
(Language: English)
Kein is my intellectual hero of the year, if not the decade. She links two seemingly disparate trends--the prevalence and legitimization of state-sponsored torture, and the rise of unfettered robber-baron capitalism--and show how both draw on the psychsocial principle of shock. The result is a kind of unified field theory of the politics and economics of the last half century. Just as abduction and torture are designed to break down a prisoner's will so he or she will agree to just about anything, so social shocks such as wars, terrorist attacks and natural disasters break down society's resistance to the imposition of unfair and inhumane economic policies. Torturing people, through electroshock and otherwise, is designed to break down their personalities and to create a blank slate on which the interrogator can rewrite a person's loyalties, principles and ideals. Shock (and awe!) imposed on whole countries has the effect of breaking down the public's will and ability to resist draconian economic policies that privatize government services, gut social programs, and create a new uber-class of billionaires at the expense of the middle class.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-29 08:12:57.
(Language: English)
A powerful and devastating critique of pure free market ideology as it was dreamed up by Milton Friedman. Absolutely on target in exposing how the 'shock doctrine' policies - gutting social services and creating government policies that corporations drool over - require state violence, since populations never support them. Also a great analysis of the 'disaster capitalism' industry that has grown in the wake of tragedies both man-made and natural. It's the most eye-opening book I've read in years.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-13 05:59:52.
(Language: English)
Mind blowing! So much history packed with so much well researched historical perspective. My brain was on fire and I suggest anyone who is not allergic to progressive/liberal points of view, to read this book! Wow. Only issue on my mind is, that maybe we have to steal from the poor to finance big projects like space exploration, genome sequencing, and forest preservation. If so, then we somehow have to accept that millions will live in misery because we can't just exploit all natural resources and make no investment in technology so that everyone lives equally. Anyway, that's a subject of some other equally prophetic book. Wow, my brain was on fire! Makes me wonder why its necessary to subject millions to poverty and unemployment in the name of profit. There might be reasons (ie. space exploration or biodiversity conservation) but this book mostly complains that human suffering has been encouraged by globalization.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-21 10:22:58.
(Language: English)
This book has not been researched well. Many of the quotes are out of context, and just plain wrong. Consider for example, her discussion on Friedman’s legacy. The positive press Friedman received following his death is described by Klein as ‘a fairy-tale version of history, scrubbed clean of all the violence and coercion so intimately entwined with this crusade’. She instead describes how Friedman spent the pre-Thatcher/Regan years in the ‘intellectual wilderness’ where ‘few listened’ to him. The evidence? She writes that ‘Friedman was dismissively described by Time in 1969 as “a pixie or a pestâ€, and revered as a prophet by only a select few’. This quote by Time magazine is the only piece of evidence she cites to suggest that Friedman was not taken seriously before the 1980s. But when you actually look at the article referred to, it doesn’t say that at all. In fact, it’s the opposite. The Time article reads: "Friedman, a 57-year-old economics professor at the University of Chicago, is still regarded by critics as a pixie or a pest, but he has reached the scholar's pinnacle: leadership of a whole school of economic thought. It is called the "Chicago school," and its growing band of followers argues that money supply is by far the most important and fastest-acting of the economic regulators at the Government's disposal. Friedman has succeeded in persuading many leading economists to adopt his monetary theories, at least in part." So she attributes the attack on Friedman to TIME's own opinion, but the magazine was clearly just referring to critics, while praising Friedman's success as persuading 'leading economists'! "Maybe if right wingers didn't embody an agenda that put a target and dollar sign on everything and everyone they wouldn't need to be opposed" Silly generalizations like this make the book qualify for drivel. Naomi Klein's book treats 'right wingers' like some kind of obscure alien race designed to destroy humanity. Unfortunately, they're just normal people who have viewpoints that she doesn't agree with. Some are good people, some are not. Deal with it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-14 05:54:04.
(Language: English)
Amazing. Scaring. You can be right handed or left-handed (politically, I mean) but if you read this book you will consider it to be one of the most important books of our time. And it will possibly change your vision of the world (and politics... it depends on how much you care for people). Naomi Klein begins with the premise that Chicago School economics can be directly tied to oppressive regimes in many parts of the world. How? You will see. This book,horoughly proves this disconcerting truth. The Shock Doctrine is also a brilliant expose and an elegant model which enables us to understand modern history in a new way. Léelo. Léelo. Léelo. Si confías un poco en mi juicio, léelo.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-11 08:10:16.
(Language: English)
A great investigation by a great journalist. I applaud Ms. Klein for the detailed research she carried to expose the dark side of an extreme form of capitalism that exploits disasters (natural or otherwise) to advance free-market agenda and sell-off pieces of sovereign nations to private corporations.Through analyzing history of various countries including Chile, Argentina, Poland, Russia, Iraq, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia and Palestine/Israel, Naomi Klein shows the public how the "Chicago School Economics" - which was advanced by the Noble-prize-winner Milton Friendman - caused a disruption of local economies and an unfair distribution of wealth that caused multinational corporations to make huge profits wile not giving back to local communities. I think Ms. Klein was successful in coining the term "Shock Doctrine" and introducing it into mainstream culture, because this extreme version of capitalism is propelled when an entire nation is under "shock" - disoriented and weak...
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-02 02:54:12.
(Language: English)
"A shocking and disturbing expose of the last 40 years exportation of neo-liberal "chicago school" economic doctrine around the world by the US and IMF from South America to Asia, South Africa to Iraq - and the effect of the "laissez faire", market forces economics upon emerging markets and ordinary people - with the restriction of democratic process and imposing of long terms contracts to overseas companies - against the wishes of the local electorate. How much of this could be a blueprint for the required "economic adjustment" now required with focus on slash and burn of public services to be replaced by "efficient" for-profit organisations? "
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-15 09:26:17.
(Language: English)
Vital reading for anyone concerned about the current state of affairs in the world. Klein identifies the common thread of behaviour of most of the world's most devastating ideology - capitalism without limits. I remember growing up hearing how democracy and capitalism were equated with one another, and how this wasn't so (lefty upbringing I guess), but here we see the incredible effort the right has gone to in trying to make this connection where it cannot exist. Now our challenge is to make ourselves and our communities shock resistant!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-02 10:57:54.
(Language: English)
Too much "evidence" to be discounted...I couldn't put it down until I got tired of hearing the same story repeated over and over and over and over. I guess that's the point...we never learn. Doesn't make for a good read, though. It's like a textbook, or like a book of recipes. Fascinating, but not something to pour over in a few sittings. I wonder how many reviewers read the whole damned thing before joining the throngs who drool over everything Naomi Klein does. Nonetheless, I find the book compelling and I notice myself getting that much angrier with the rest of the world.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-09 12:13:23.
(Language: English)
This is a fantastic book that traces out a theory of what's been happening to global politics for the last 40 years. She's probably right for the most part, and has probably made some errors. Also interesting to note, now that the economic bailout plan got slowed-down and modified, along with China and India asserting their national prerogatives for when it comes to "Open Trade" might signal an end to the Chicago School style economics that has reigned recently.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-20 01:19:46.
(Language: English)
This book is not only a scathing indictment of Friedman's neo-liberal theory, but also the IMF, World Bank, WTO, US gov't and others who have used the guise of 'freedom' to enslave populations with cumbersome restrictions tied to loans. This book is a cogent set of arguments, and while it can be said that she interprets events in order to fit her hypothesis, that is the goal. She makes a clear case to show how when different forms of 'shock' are applied to individuals, groups and nations, there is a moment of opportunity where they will accept ideas and laws against their self-interest, benefiting a select few. In perhaps an aspect that may be overlooked, I found the arguments relating to Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan as the most insightful. Seldom is terrorism considered 'blowback' from foreign policy, but she makes an excellent case to consider it as an effect of economic policies that leave many young males vulnerable to such ideas. Call it 'left-wing drivel' or 'socialist propaganda' but give it a fair read, and consider why the social democratic gov'ts in South America were deposed, in order to bring in authoritarian capitalist leaders, who were propped up by those with the most to profit from privatization? This book's an excellent read, regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, and like Bob de Bob said in his review, try "not to come away from this book a little more Keynesian."
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-17 02:22:40.
(Language: English)
It seems tempting to praise unequivocally every Black Book of Neoliberalism that comes out (and there've been many of late - David Harvey's "Brief History" probably the best of the broad overviews). It's so obviously necessary to show how contrary to popular will and democratic norms the last few decades have been. And the journalistic chapters on Iraq, the national security industry and the Bush Administration are bracingly good. But this book has some real problems that shouldn't be ignored, and they are inherent in Klein's analytic framework. That Joseph Stiglitz saw fit to defend this book in the NY Times against its detractors should be cause for circumspection, at least. "The Shock Doctrine" poses a too radical break between neoliberalism and everything else, and consequently ends up with an inadequate explanation for its rise, and a too-sanguine view of the possible alternatives. First, and perhaps worst, is the author's jarringly rose-tinted portrayal of the postwar "Golden Era" of Keynes and developmentalism. Just because Keynes's enemies among economists of the Chicago and Austrian Schools were so awful (and Klein does uncover some enjoyably slanderous evidence about the dirty, bloodstained hands that some of these guys had) it's still unhelpful to pretend that "everyone was doing well" (p. 56) under the so-called Long Boom and its welfare state. And it's a little perverse to reference Andre Gunder Frank - a famed critic of developmentalism - in support of such claims. In fact, contemporary research has shown that the welfare state in most advanced nations never redistributed income downward (i.e. taxes from outweighed transfers to the working class), while the government deficit financing and public works programmes of the "Keynesian" years were bound up in military imperialism and contributed mightily to the eventual rise of finance capital. Klein scolds Jeffrey Sachs for not understanding "what made Keynesianism finally possible" (p. 252) - i.e. the Soviet Union - but someone should have told her: it also required a hegemonic United States. Thus, Klein's portrayal of neoliberalism (she confusingly calls it "corporatism"), as a coup arbitarily imposed by a marginal group of fundamentalist cranks and rentiers on a working system, ignores the reality of declining profits from the end of the Sixties, and stagflation thereafter. Postwar capitalism died of internal causes rather than being murdered from without. Nor can it be resurrected, as Klein on occasion seems to hope. And, by focusing too narrowly on the Washington Consensus brand of reactionary economics, Klein lets off the hook its more slippery manifestations - for example, post-Washington Consensus creeps like Stiglitz. By not pretending that the market is perfect, in allowing for imperfections, Stiglitz merely enables a broadening of the purview of the World Bank and IMF to include non-market institutions that were previously outside their remit. That's not a good thing, and Klein shouldn't pretend his faux-dissidence is a sign of progress. Klein's account of neoliberalism's spread, as though by viral contagion, from its initial case in Chile is decent if a little too long (and she ignores several crucial steps in the maturation process, such as the IMF-Treasury intervention in the UK in 1976). Her broad contention about "shock capitalism" is well argued. But the real worth of this book lies not in its historical scholarship (given the aim, it's mostly secondary sources) nor its theoretical claims (limited, I think) but the journalistic exposé in later chapters of the scandal of the War on Terror and the burgeoning national security industry. It's wonderful.
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