This well-researched book is clearly written and should be read by anyone wanting to understand world politics and economics.

For the first nine chapters of the SHOCK DOCTRINE by Naomi Klein I could not put the book down until I had finished reading it word for word. Having been suitably impressed I immediately purchased three additional copies and have given them out to professional colleagues who I know enjoy reading about history and economics, especially in regards to humanitarian and development issues in third world countries, and their volatile causes/treatments.

I work in a team of people providing business advice on risk, governance, financial viability, and management issues within government circles. We rely on evidence based information and examples of best practice standards in an attempt to form meaningful, arms length, positive future based recommendations to safeguard the needs of various stakeholders. This is done to uphold a particular values and belief system within the culture we operate in.

Naomi Klein's SHOCK DOCTRINE provides a stunning example of all of these factors - the theory, the principles to be applied from this theory, the political element, the execution, the results, and the feedback and refinement of the theory. The context is the way in which free-market economic revolutions require the subjugation of the psychological free will of the people to form their own consensus, and their own democracy, to be accepted. While I'm still slowly digesting the rest of the book, one of the most compelling observations I think KLEIN makes early on, is that purist capitalism does not allow for the presence of competing or tempering world views; it requires a monopoly on ideology. This monopoly condition is a total contradiction in the free-market theory which is supposed to actively encourage competition so that ALL consumer's utility can be maximized at the "bliss point" under Pareto Optimality conditions i.e. having the ability to execute CHOICE is the defining benefit of liberalism, and free-markets over state run command economies.

If you're interested in the use of university silo economics based research, psychological trauma, their theoretical underpinnings and how these have been imposed on real people and communities, and the variable results (some negative, some positive), the SHOCK DOCTRINE is essential and excellent reading. You don't have to agree or disagree with everything presented here; the value of a good non-fiction book like Klein's is in the evidence base, and how carefully linked the conclusion is made to this base. Definitely food for thought.

Not being an economist, I found this audiobook understandable and interesting. The author made the concepts clear, a point of view everyone should consider within the mix.

I listened to Naomi Klein on a podcast where she was giving a speech, as I recall, to folks gathered at the University of Chicago. Her presentation was well-organized, intriguing, and invited further exploration. So I purchased the book to explore the subject further.

This is one of those situations where more argues for less -- less detail if non-economists are to follow the labyrinth of public facts and private assumptions, fewer allegations unsupported by research footnotes, and smaller conspiratoral webs.

Naomi gives a small elite much more credit than they are due and, if true on key points, raises more doubts in my mind about the competence of journalism and the "loyal opposition" during much of the time chronicled in this deeply disappointing book.

My first copy of "THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, the rise of disaster capitalism" by Naomi Klein was a gift from a friend.

After i had read 3 chapters i wanted EVERYONE to read it because it goes to the roots of the current economic meltdown.

It is very well written..a 'page turner' and truly shocking about what it reveals the U.S. the IMF and the WORLD BANK have done around the world since the '70s causing immense suffering and bloodshed in forcing poor countries to have 'FREE MARKETS"

I have already given away 11 copies and just bought 5 more to give away.

It's a MUST READ if you want to understand our current economic problems.

This is a remarkable book. Although I understood a lot of the things that Klein talks about in her book, I had never put it all together into a whole before. I feel like I understand what the battle lines really mean now, much better than before. Far better, she explains why these things have been obscured--e.g., why we haven't understood the necessary relationship of the conservative theories of Milton Friedman and the brutal policies of torture in those countries that have put those theories into effect. We have treated the totalitarian policies of torture as a humanitarian issue and economic theories as a choice between two competing economic theories. This book is a tour de force in bringing together historical facts in various places (Chile, Argentina, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, England, and now the U.S.) with the economic wars that are being fought on many levels throughout the world. Despite its sometimes repetitive nature (it could have been edited into at least 2/3 of its present size), I think this is the most important book I've read in the last two years. I think/thought that Kevin Phillips, AMERICAN THEOCRACY, was an extremely important book a few years ago--this is even more significant, and I recommend it without qualification.

I have known, for a long time that we were not the guys in the white hats, but this book is a true eye opener.It is as horrifying as it informative.
It should be required reading for all high school students in order that they not be lulled into the compacency of their parents generation.

This is a well souced book about American style capitalism and how destructive to the world it has been, a horrific failure of tremendous scope--that is if the intention was to lift the people of the world up to a better quality of life. Klein lays the blame on Milton Friedman, a U. of Chicago economist. The author deliniates the strategy and the tactics through real world example after real world example. The question becomes: How was this possible? How can a few men, with very bad ideas, dominate the world to the accumulation of their personal wealth, at the expense of the great majority of people, under the guise of democracy? Answer: Through fear, lies, torture, state and intimate terrorism and; dare I say, greed, antisocial, and narcissistic behaviors. This happened not once--but time and time again, right on up through the disaster that is Iraq and the rebuilding of New Orleans. What is truly troubling is that this happened with the world watching and was, in fact, the policy of America. There are believers. And, if you are one of the beneficiaries of this policy then you probably don't care. Do you care now?

In regard to my purchase of "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, the seller was very prompt with the shipping and the condition of the book was excellent as advertised. I had no problems with payment via the Amazon website:is very easy to navigate. I am a return shopper at Amazon and do not see that changing in the near future. The selection is great. I have not begun the book yet, but I am acquainted with it through talk radio review and a friend's review of it. I am also familiar with Naomi's work and have such respect for her moral and ethical stands. I am looking forward to getting the details of this book for myself.

Carl

Klein caters to her socialist audience with this work of astonishingly blatant distortions and falsehoods, knowing that it will sell to the true believers and that she'll get away with it. But don't look here for real scholarship. Her straw-man case against Friedman and free-markets it so blatantly distorted and fabricated that any gems of truth are lost in the mire.

Read the other one-star reviews for some details, and for a more thorough analysis read Johan Norberg's review in the October 2008 issue of Reason magazine, which shows how thoroughly Klein actually gets Friedman's position, and many facts about economics, exactly backward across the board. To accomplish that requires more than error, it indicates a deliberate attempt to deceive.

Klein uncovers Freidmanite economic policy and shows it as it is: a cold, callous model in which the rich get richer and the hell with everyone else. By the time we have followed the trail of destruction that the Chicago School has left in its wake, we come to expect the horrifying, yet natural progression of its policy, which is that of disaster capitalism. This book is an amazing eye opener.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

I suggest everyone reads this book. It was very informative and eye opening to out goverment.

If you thought you knew about America, and it's foreign policy for the past 50 years, wait 'til you read this book. The idea that these things are being done, in our name, in places all over the world, is a crime. Pray, that under a new president the methods and tactics used by our country will cease, immediately. "The Shock Doctrine" will shock you. I promise.

This is a well-written review of the state of our economy. If the 'deciders' would all read this, it might make a difference!!

Just a few things off the top of my head I find wrong with this book.

1. Friedman opposed the Vietnam and Iraq Wars.
2. Friedman opposed the IMF's actions in Asia.
3. Friedman visited Argentina 2 years after Pinochet's bloody coup.
4. Pinochet requested help from Friedman economists after his economy was failing and still didn't start reforms for several years.
5. Chinese students gathered at Tiananmen Square to mourn the death of the Secretary General who was a market reformer.

the list goes on and on. This book was written to be marketed to the left because Naomi Klien new it would sell well, truth be damned.

What a fantastically researched book. It is full of details that you had no idea upon. The foundation is set in great detail with the first application of Shock Therapy upon humans. Then it talks about Milton Friedman's free market approach and its adoption through out the world.

If these things are indeed true, the US has done crimes against Humanity. For example, according to the book, the CIA supplied a list of 5000 names of liberals and union leaders to Pinochet's military in Chile so they can have them all killed. All for the sake of money. Who's making the money, not you or I.

The middle of the book got a little tedious, it was the same thing over and over again. How the US basically screwed over country after country with the free market approach.

But the last section will get your blood boiling. The last few chapters detail how the Bush administration and all his cronies became immensely rich, by filling the public with lies to essentially fill their own pockets and the pockets of their friends. They surreptitiously gave themselves more power. I'm afraid of the future.

Why do most people, in this day and age, still vote republican and are still enamored by the fallacies of the complete free market approach I don't know. Why do most poor people vote against their own best interest, I don't know. But these are the people that need to read this book.

It probably won't make a bit of difference though. These are the same people that will read it and brush it off as fake or not true. But even if the information in this book is 1% true, isn't that enough to change your minds about what the US has done to the world, our current role in the global politics and economy, and the falsity of complete free market capitalism.

It's because we never had complete free market capitalism that we even have the little good things we have today. Be thankful for that, and hope for a proper change for our children.

Just look around you. It's November 11, 2008 and the world is falling apart.

I know, I know, this shock doctrine stuff is serious, and harms many people, and so forth.

But Naomi Klein is cute.

Ah, I've known so many women like her from years gone by.

Such a nice girl. And smart, too!

I didn't know what to expect. I had heard Naomi Klein on Democracy Now! and several other programs and she was an interesting contributor. I checked out the book online and purchased it. I have not been disappointed. I recommend this book to anyone. Should be required reading in high school.

This is highly recommended to read about the damage caused by the "Chicago School" of economics. Theories pushed by Milton Friedman and his school were used by the CIA as justification for overthrowing democratically elected governments in favor of right wing dictatorships in several Latin American countries. There was blood on the hands of Nobel Prize winner Friedman but he managed to disassociate himself from the violence through a strange process of ratiocination. A valuable book that everyone should read.

This book is essentially a pamphlet against free market extremism. Or more specifically: against the predominance of the Chicago School of Milton Friedman.
Klein explains how the Friedman strain of capitalism has something in common with other dangerous ideologies: the desire for unattainable purity, for a clean slate on which to build a reengineered model society.
In other words, Friedman should be put in the same corner as Marx, the radical corner. Friedman's ideas killed the checks and balances that are a founding pillar of a healthy un-radical capitalism.
Oppose this to Keynes, the emminently un-radical: in favor of a mixed economy with a free market for most goods, regulated by reasonable restrictions to capitalists' risk taking, and supported by reasonable public sector activities for common goods, including a reasonable welfare state.
Klein uses several examples to susbtantiate her shock doctrine thesis. A prominent place take the recent big stories of New Orleans after Katrina, of South and South-East Asia after the big tsunami, and of Iraq after the invasion. Each are seen by the Friedmanites as an opportunity to implement radical reforms.
The book came out before the current big crisis. It was able to anticipate it, implicitly.
Unfortunately, and therefore I give only 4 stars, Klein is not a brief, stringent, analytical writer, but a wordy, lengthy, journalistic one. This gives the book a touch of conspiracy theory.
I found her previous book, No Logo, totally unreadable, which is probably a pity. I am sure she has much to say, but overdoes it in her saying.
Better go to Krugmann/Klugmann after all.

This book is essentially a pamphlet against free market extremism. Or more specifically: against the predominance of the Chicago School of Milton Friedman.
Klein explains how the Friedman strain of capitalism has something in common with other dangerous ideologies: the desire for unattainable purity, for a clean slate on which to build a reengineered model society.
In other words, Friedman should be put in the same corner as Marx, the radical corner. Friedman's ideas killed the checks and balances that are a founding pillar of a healthy un-radical capitalism.
Oppose this to Keynes, the emminently un-radical: in favor of a mixed economy with a free market for most goods, regulated by reasonable restrictions to capitalists' risk taking, and supported by reasonable public sector activities for common goods, including a reasonable welfare state.
The book came out before the current big crisis. It was able to anticipate it, implicitly.
Unfortunately, and therefore I give only 4 stars, Klein is not a brief, stringent, analytical writer, but a wordy, lengthy, journalistic one. This leads to a feeling of conspiracy theory. Conspiracies happen all the time, but theories about them are to be avoided.
Which reminds me, I found her previous book, No Logo, totally unreadable, which is probably a pity. I am sure she has much to say, but overdoes it in her saying.
Better go to Krugmann/Klugmann after all.

I am not typically a reader. I had heard the author on the radio talk shows, along with numerous references to her doctrine by political pundits. When the economy began its recent decent, I decided it was time to read this book. I am not as eloquent as other reviews in my review. I was simply overwhelmed by the thoroughness of the research and information. The pages of footnotes say it all. This is not fluff piece. What alarmed me was how all this went on, right under the noses of both political parties and numerous administrations, and no one stopped it. Except for the people. It took the desire for people that want to live free and just that thwarted these evil people. This recent election of Obama will hopefully put a nail in the coffin of the Chicago School of Economics. I am now a book junkie, and have ordered 15 more books on politics. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Tries to make the case that when people rebuild areas devastated by natural disasters, it is a bad thing.

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein's primary purpose is to challenge the assumption that Milton Friedman-style deregulated capitalism has taken hold around the world through freedom and democracy. In gripping fashion, she exposes this notion as false and reveals the true methods employed by the corporatist elites.

Powerful multinational corporations, along with their representatives in government, have instilled their ideology on unsuspecting people suffering from the shock of wars, natural disasters, and economic crises. No part of the globe has been spared, including Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Despite being done under the guise of spreading freedom and democracy, the true purpose of the corporatist agenda is to increase the wealth and power of the elites in charge. A careful examination of the methods involved will reveal the contradiction. Any resistance to deregulated capitalism is met with restriction of civil liberties and, in extreme cases, torture.

These policies have left entire countries and cultures in shambles. Drastic cuts to social spending have swelled the ranks of people living in poverty. Profits gained from extracting natural resources are not reinvested in the local economy. The list of grievances continues.

This book is thoroughly researched and incredibly detailed. The argument presented is certainly not conventional, but it is very compelling. I highly recommend The Shock Doctrine.

This book simply is the best summary of U.S. history since the Cold War that I have read, and it updates that history into today's economies of information, disaster relief, and defense-reconstuction. Readers of Noam Chomsky will be familiar with many of the details here, but not with Klein's commanding, exhaustive and overarching synthesis. Libertarians, humanists, and liberals all should read this book and be alarmed. Klein has given U.S. and world citizens a wake-up call in 500 pages of reporting and analysis.

I'm half-way through and give this book a neutral rating even though I am enthralled by Klein's masterterly work and horrified by her observations. I have just read or skimmed the one-star reviews and found some well written objections coming from specific places. Several advocated reading Friedman's work. However, I remember him on TV: "it's not about fairness, life is unfair" he would say. I profoundly disagree. Life is unfair but politics and economics should be about fairness. We don't have to exacerbate the unfairness. If I simply read a Friedman book I doubt if this will clear it up.

Reading "The Shock Doctrine" was one of the best investments of my reading time in many months. This is a compelling piece of journalism (perhaps more like a well-documented opinion piece) that takes you for an eye-opening trip around the world and through decades of history, examining the role of the United States and the International Monetary Fund in the manipulation of politics and economics.

Sound heavy? It is--to a point. It's also basic and simple in concept and delivery.

"The Shock Doctrine" exposes the scorched-earth and exploitive approach of Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys"--in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Poland, Russia, China, The Maldives, New Orleans, Sri Lanka and more. Using human torture as a point of comparison, Klein shows how conservative ideologues concocted a toxic mix of authoritarian power and pure free-market ideology to upend economies and disrupt lives in the name of profit. Trying to capture the essence of this book in a couple of sentences is a challenge--it's much more complex than the sentence above.

One quick sidebar note: I found the early chapter about the history of human torture to be overly long and unnecessary. She makes a good point early on in this chapter and then drives it into the ground. If you find this chapter slow or repetitive, just skip it. The going is just getting interesting--if a bit depressing.

In country and country, crisis after crisis, Klein shows how the super-capitalists swoop in when opportunity strikes and how they till the ground and shock the local population so massive parts of the government functions can be privatized. The result is usually harsh and brutal for those on the lowest economic rungs and Klein documents the impact--and the complicit involvement of the U.S. government.

Additionally, "The Shock Doctrine" attacks the notion of government-by-contract and how that notion is fundamentally flawed.

Klein has a way of telescoping world events over the past decades into sharp patterns and brutal rhythms. If you doubt there's a connection between the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Klein will show you.

Klein's prose is rich and direct. "The recipe for endless worldwide war is the same one that the Bush administration offered as a business prospectus to the nascent disaster capitalism complex after September 11. It is not a war that can be won by any country, but winning is not the point. The point is to create `security' inside fortress states bolstered by endless low-level conflict outside their walls. In a way, it is the same goal that the private security companies have in Iraq: secure the perimeter, protect the principal."

Fascinating book. Hats off to Naomi Klein.

Very well done. Clear and cohesive, easy to read. An eye-opener. I don't have time for more cliches - JUST READ IT!

I am telling everyone I know to read this book. I hope that Obama reads it before he is sworn in as president. Meticulous, damning, and brilliant. You will look at the world in a new way.

Naomi Klein has summed it all up. There definitely is a lot of history to go through, but it is so interesting and keeps your interest all the way through. It is far from a personal perspective on Global and Domestic Shock Economics. She backs up everything with citations from a multitude of sources, worldwide. Her allusions and similes based on hard facts scared the hell out of me of what the government has been capable of over the past 60 years.

It seems like she has "outed" the Shock Economists, The "Chicagoans", all the followers of Milton Friedman's "Free Market Economy". You learn how greed just changed the playing field. Now that she has "outed" them, I just hope more people will read this and speak out against the "Shock Doctrine" the next time it is carried out. This should be required reading in any economics, history or political science class at the university level. Thank you Ms. Klein for putting it out there!

If you like Michael Moore style propaganda then you just might like this book. As for me, I think it's garbage and I can't even finish reading it. I really try to keep an open mind, but Naomi Klein distorts facts, takes quotes out of context, and fudges on her chronology in order to force the spread of capitalism to fit with her analogy of tourture. The first 40 pages or so don't even talk about capitalism, but rather Klien goes on a tirade about the CIAs record on shock therapy and tourture. Klien goes on further to juxtapose these stories of shock-tourture with Milton Freidman's spread of captialism. With all the explicit bias that's in the book it's impossible for a rational, fair minded human being to read it as anything other than an alternative history. Rather, this book says much more about the author's blatant social bias than it does about anything that Milton Freidman has done or has advocated for. Klien seems to believe that all things should be controlled by the government and takes great displeasure in seeing "public wealth" being "transfered" into the hand of private citizens. Power in the hands of the people, isn't that democracy? One example from the book she takes exception with is the privatization of the schools in New Orleans after Katrina, and speaks about this as if it were the worst thing in the world. Nevermind that the schools in New Orleans were HORRIBLE before Katrina, but are now doing much, MUCH, better because of the voucher system. Poor parents were finally able to take their kids out of failing schools and put them in better performing ones. Anyway, I could rant further about this sad piece of literature, but I won't? And if you don't want to take my word for it, go read the review by Reason magazine before you buy. Maybe you'll change your mind, I wish I would've.

Very eye opening, great reading. I read it while i was in Panama last summer and was able to draw paralles to the building of the Panama Canal

This is a book all American's should read, but they won't. What an eye opener, Naomi Klein is a great writer.This book keeps your interest from page one.

I am reading this book on Kindle and am about one-half through. This book is bone-chilling. I read a lot, and this is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. Even if just some of this book is accurate, it is a most profound charge against our use of capitalism around the world. I cannot believe that a university like the University of Chicago would allow one of its professors to use people in various countries to try to prove his particular theory of captialism. It is one thing to try experiments in a laboratory, but to use the overthrow of a country, with the associated torture and killing, to try to prove that a theory is correct is more than criminal. This is total evil. It makes me wonder if this kind of thing could happen in America at this particular time of financial stress and a new election. As I said before, this book is bone-chilling.

Ordered directly from Amazon, got free delivery with my complete purchase, only down side is that I didn't know it was paperback because there is no complete description of the book. There needs to be a description of these things. The book is awesome though, that's what made up for eveything.

This book is a real eyeopener about our government and its manipulating ways.
A "must read" for everyone.

Roll on Naomi Klein! I think she has hit the nail right on the head

When I was studying economics at Australia's Monash University between 1965 and 1969, our first three years were devoted to the study of the economics of John Maynard Keynes, a man with both heart and soul. Then in the final year, our Professor suddenly announced: "Forget all you have learned to date. We're now teaching the monetary theories of Milton Friedman." I felt betrayed and abandoned.

Now, with the bailout of the banks, the tables are turned. Keynes was right all along. The results of forty years of unmitigated corporate greed are now being exposed for all to see. It is only to be hoped that America doesn't continue to gorge itself until, like Mr Creosote in the Monty Python movie The Meaning of Life, it explodes and leaves a disgusting mess for the rest of the world to clean up!

Naomi Klein has exposed Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys" just as Ida Tarbell exposed John D. Rockefeller in an earlier time. In other words, beware of those who worship "markets"--usually such worshippers leave out the fact that the only capitalistic enterprises they worship are the ones they control. Any competing companies (or schools of thought) must be destroyed.

Is it any wonder that Friedman became a god at the University of Chicago, the House that Rockefeller built? Rockefeller destroyed the lives of his competitors, and was anything but a free market man. He and men like Carngegie didn't believe in capitalism for others--they were monopolists, and used government to protect their monopolies, just as the multinationals do today.

Klein does an excellent job of ripping off the "free market" mask of Friedman, just as Tarbell did of Rockefeller. You can bet that she has made herself many enemies among the monopolists of today, just as Tarbell did. I appreciate her fearlessness and point of view.

I only give the book 4 stars instead of 5 because, halfway through it, I was needing to come up for air--she proves her point over and over and over again, and it becomes very depressing after a while. I asked myself how Friedman could be such a hero to so many, if only half of what she fully documents is true.

The "free marketers/free traders" want us to be slave of corporations. The socialists/communists want us to be slaves of the state. The fascists want us to be slaves to both. Who wants us to be free? None of the above. Pick your poison, folks. They're all the same in the end, and they all despise the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--whether Bush or Kerry, Obama or McCain, they all will sell us down the river for a mess of pottage.

An important book, one that will change most people's view of so-called "free markets".

The 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 the World Bank and IMF are staunch promoters of capitalism and free-market economics, and will only provide aid on the condition that unrestricted capitalist policies be instantaneously and shockingly adopted by these countries, using lethal force if necessary, to suppress existing socialist ideologies and organizations, and even to suppress the will of the countries people who may be democratically opposed. This is what Klein refers to as "disaster capitalism", the introduction of unrestricted free-market economics in crisis and disaster situations with the short-term goal of engaging in excessive profiteering, and the long-term goal of assuming absolute control of those economies. And when disaster capitalism is implemented with the shock therapy approach normally associated with modern torture techniques, we have what Klein refers to as the "shock doctrine".

In every example cited by Klein, where countries were literally forced to adopt unrestricted free-market policies (privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, cessation of government spending, cessation of unionization, suppression of democratic assembly, unrestricted foreign ownership, unwarranted price increases, higher taxation, and intentional mass unemployment) in order to receive financial and economic aid, these countries went into an economic death spiral as their state resources and infrastructure were sold away to foreign owners for cents on the dollar, and the foreign owners were under no obligation to re-invest back into the countries economy. The financial assistance received from the World Bank and IMF was not used to benefit the newly created masses of poor and jobless people who needed it most, but instead was used to benefit the promoters of disaster capitalism.

The only drawback to Klein's book is that she tends to blame disaster capitalism on its economic architects, and not on the governments and corporations who sponsor it. Consequently, Klein's portrayal of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics as evil incarnate is unwarranted. There is nothing wrong with capitalism and free-market economics when it is implemented under the right conditions. Klein fails to recognize the fact that these economists were acting not just as economic agents of the World Bank and IMF, but also as foreign policy agents of the US government, and globalization agents of American multinational corporations. Klein also fails to acknowledge that these same governments and corporations were engaging in dishonest, unethical, undemocratic, and even criminal behavior when promoting their self-serving political, social, and economic agendas. One fact is clear from Klein's book, disaster capitalism as a means to globalization and American world dominance will not work in countries that embody true democracy.

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, the people who suffered disproportionately from the effects of such kinds of propaganda under both regimes), but he surely did not invent the method. Blame the Marxists and the Nazis for perfecting that.

Do yourself a favour, and buy the The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, his thesis is free of partisan politics and delves far further with laser sharp understanding, into how change through improbable events can happen.

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 a democratic country.

What Klein does is draw lots of things together, and show the extent to which the extreme free market ideology of Milton Friedman and his many disciples dominated US foreign policy in so many countries, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and also the conduct of government under George W. Bush. Once again ideology, untempered by evidence and practicality, when given free reign, leads to disaster. Many of the practitioners of this ideology were self serving and corrupt, or at least blinded by vanity, but clearly a man like Jeffery Sachs, who is currently doing his best as he sees it for the very poor countries, was genuine in his profession of his goals.

Here are a few of the things which are important and which I hadn't fully known, or known at all: the use of torture to terrorize rather than extract information, and the early CIA interest in it; what happened in Chile to the Allende regime and the Chilean people, with US participation, was not a singular event but was replicated in several other Latin American countries; the pattern of foreign aid which relies on starting from scratch instead of taking advantage of local skills and resources, and the extent to which this occurred in Iraq and also in Sri Lanka and Lebanon; the extent of the waste and corruption in Iraq; how undemocratic Yeltsin was.

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, I am somewhat surprised that the book was allowed to be published. (If more Americans read books, it probably would not have been.) Probably the most shocking to me was learning of Dr. Jeffery Sach'sThe End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time role in Russia during its rule by Yeltsin. It seems that he has dramatically altered his views on what is a good economic system for a society to thrive.

Disaster Capitalism has been experienced around the world. How much longer will it be before the US gets our shock? If people read this book, hopefully they will be informed and motivated to insist that we have a sound economic system in place.

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 to be interested in. Klein does a great job of tying some pretty wildly disparate ideas together and makes it not only relevant but essential to comprehending the world that we have wrought before us.

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. If they had wanted what Klein claims they wanted, wouldn't they have said as much? Klein simply lies about the goals of the Tiananmen Square protests: She desecrates the memory of that glorious incident and those beautiful martyrs of freedom.

Sadly, there is nowhere nearly enough room to deal with every fallacy in this book. I strongly suggest that you track down each quote she uses and see for yourself whether her use of quotations (and facts) is at all accurate. You will see it is, for the most part, not. So I will focus on her main thesis, if it can be called that, since it isn`t much of a thesis and it really isn`t hers.

Naomi Klein's book is little more than a plagiarism of Leninist rhetoric. Lenin to railed on about the "imperial" nature of capitalism---even though the nation he founded would soon become the most "imperial" power in history. Her work is actually little more than a dumbed down version of Lenin's thesis regarding "excess production." It is a shoddy work of scholarship unworthy of a bachelors thesis. There are no facts supporting her ideas beyond a few misinterpreted remarks by Friedman.

There is no shock doctrine of free markets. Libertarians are, for the most part, a pacifistic bunch who only believe in using force when others use force first. Trying to draw a tie between the policies of the Bush administration and the views of economists like Friedman and Hayek is patently absurd---the Bush administration is not pro-markets: We can see that from the massive nationalization and socialization of the banking industry that is happening right now. The purpose of the "Forward Strategy of Freedom" (the quotes are ironic) was to establish unlimited republican democracy---not free markets. It leaves open the possibility of voting the free market down. Indeed, it allows women to vote in the very sharia law that oppresses them.

The real reason that catastrophes sometimes proceed the emergence of a free market is that free markets are able to adapt to changing conditions more quickly than socialized economies. Indeed, free and unregulated exchange is the natural condition of men when their is no interference from the state. Disasters disturb the operations of the state (and are frequently caused by the state) and so---when the big bully of government is gone---people resort to doing what is natural. Furthermore, many of the shocks Klein talks about occur because of the failures of socialism. Once socialism fails of its own accord (as Friedman, Mises, and Hayek all thought they would), people try "the other guy"---namely freedom.

If socialism were so awesome and correct, how could it be so easily disturbed or shocked by conspiratorial Cobdenites? The only answer---and the correct one---is that the failures intrinsic to socialism cause socialism to fail, not the conspiracies of free marketeers.

Any and all opposition to freedom should be suspect (and this work of shoddy scholarship is no exception). That is a sentiment that should ring true in the heart of every American---indeed, in every human heart. The great bullies of the world have all been fascists, communists, and religious communalists: And it should never been forgotten that two of these groups were unrepentant socialists: the fascists (both German and Italian) [Nazi means National Socialist Workers Party] and the communists were socialists.

One can only hope that Naomi Klein will next turn her thesis to an analysis WWII and claim that Churchill decided to attack the Nazis because he wanted to make way for free markets.

[And if some idiot comes on here telling you how free the German economy was, he can shove it. Confiscating the holding of large parts of your population is not freedom. In Germany the government had final say on how everyone used his property---that is not private ownership.]

The best thing about this book is that neither the book nor its author will ever be dismissed as another case of conspiracy-mania - it is so well built, researched and argumented. In my mind, it obviously follows in the steps of "The Prince" by Machiavelli, since it says not what men should do but what they are actually doing (I am paraphrasing somebody else's praise of Machiavelli's work). For this reason, I believe that this book is a must read for anyone interested in serious understanding of modern politics.
I was tempted though to rate the book not with five but with four stars. I admired the exposure - sometimes even painful to read - of the latest techniques developed by the richest interests in modern powerplays. But I did not find any clear recognition of the fact that society at both national and international levels has to have a rightful place for these interests, since they are an integral part of it. Nor did I see any ideas about a reasonable way forward and a means for other parts of society to engage these rich and powerful interests - in a truly democratic way; that is, ways and means which will allow us to prevent all the worst effects of, and to keep in check greed-driven disaster-capitalistic policies, while at the same time respecting all the democratically legitimate rights of the super-rich who are and, I am convinced, will always be an indispensable and useful part of any modern society - if it is to be free.
How does modern free and democratic society develop media, think tanks, etc, that would be on a par with those put in place by the super-rich?
How does it organise a political action that would be as well staffed and run - and as efficient?
These - and many others - are the very tough questions to be answered. Without answers to them, books like this one hurt us - as they should - but don't provide much help.

The economy is in turmoil; Oh God,
Something must be done now. Don't worry about how it happened.
Hurry, Hurry. 700 billion dollars of the taxpayers' money
must be transfered to the private sector.
Hurry, Hurry. Drain the Treasury before the economy collapses. Oversight will doom all prospects of hope.
The free market uber alles. No regulation necessary. Don't even think of control and prevention of abuses. The market will right itself and all will be well with just a little cash.
Some restriction may apply though...
to you and me.
Don't argue, don't think.
Do it, Do it, Do it.


Buy this book and read it. It is right on the money.

All I can say is that considering the recent Wall Street fiasco and resulting bail out Ms. Klein showed she truly saw the writing on the wall (pun intended!). But, it ain't over yet, unfortunately. As jobs continue to be lost sending more and more Americans to the unemployment and public assistance lines, as people continue to lose their homes, as few new jobs with a living wage are created, as energy and food costs continue to rise, and as health care becomes unaffordable and non existent to any but the wealthiest, something will need to be done. Economic Darwinism at it worst, intentionally orchestrated and waiting in the wings just like the Patriot Act was. This book is a must read!

This is great service, it is sent immidiately after placing an order. It take a few days, I can read a book.

America's financial crisis will be remembered by all the countries that we screwed with the nefarious Friedman laissez-faire neo-con shock policies. I don't see them (eg South Korea) coming to the rescue by providing new funds to shore up our ailing financial institutions; instead, they will pull the plug on the grounds that their sovereign funds and T-bills went south and this action will only add to the predicament as they retreat with their sour investments. After ruining their economies with our demands for reforms (cut government spending, curb trade unions, privatize industries, remove trade barriers and reduce regulation), why should we think differently?

They may come back only to buy America at distressed prices!

Klein's book is excellent and I know that the Chilean and Russian descriptions are very accurate. I would add that she should have mentioned more in chapter 11 that the intent of the West was to destroy the Russian military-industrial complex (to slow up arms exports and further deny Russia trade receipts). The Russians should have suspected that they were not going to get favorable treatment or aid. Gorbachev knew and paid the price, but Yeltsin played into the great conspiracy trap.

I am sure that Naomi Klein would not imagine ever being lumped in with Ronald Reagan, but remembering Reagan, having read Shock Doctrine and watching what is happening right now -- October 1, 2008 -- with the U.S. Congress' attempt to bail out the American financial sector of its excesses, I think one of Reagan's famous quotes is applicable: "They're you go again!"