false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172548496m/189114.jpg 189114 4 After nearly a decade of bull markets, Americans have come to equate free markets with democracy. Never one for mincing words, social critic Thomas Frank, editor of <I>The Baffler</I> and author of <I>The Conquest of Cool</I>, challenges this myth. With his acerbic wit and contempt for sophistry, he declares the New Economy a fraud. Frank scours business literature, management theory, and marketing and advertising to expose the elaborate fantasies that have inoculated business against opposition. This public relations campaign joins an almost mystical belief in markets, a contempt for government in any form, and an "ecstatic" confusion of markets with democracy. Frank traces the roots of this movement from the 1920s, and sees its culmination in market populism as a fusion of the rebellious '60s with the greedy '80s. The overarching irony is the swapping of roles--suddenly Wall Street is no longer full of stodgy moneygrubbers, but cool entrepreneurs "leaping on their trampolines, typing out a few last lines on the laptop before paragliding, riding their bicycles to work, listening to Steppenwolf while they traded." Meanwhile, "Americans traded their long tradition of electoral democracy for the democracy of the supermarket, where all brands are created equal and endowed by their creators with all sorts of extremeness and diversity." Frank's close reading of the salesmen of market populism nails such financial gurus as George Gilder, Joseph Nocera, Kevin Kelly, and Thomas Friedman. Their writings, he contends, have served to make "the world safe for billionaires" by winning the cultural and political battle--legitimizing the corporate culture and its demands for privatization, deregulation, and non-interference. Frank's incisive prose verges on brilliant at times, though his yen for repetition can be exasperating. In either case, his boisterous reminder that markets are fundamentally not democracies is worth repeating as the level of wealth polarization in America reaches heights not seen since the 1920s. <I>--Lesley Reed</I> 531321 2000 One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy total:147|5:35|4:63|3:32|2:14|1:3| 147 554 243 20 4 0 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 12:45:15 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 06:50:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 14 07:36:26 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 14 07:39:01 -0700 2009 NYT obituaries ad infinitum. ]]> 5 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Jul 06 12:37:40 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 12:45:15 -0700 2008
It's funny how his newer stuff -- What's The Matter With Kansas, The Wrecking Crew...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon May 28 14:02:00 -0700 2007 Mon May 28 14:02:32 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Nov 26 06:53:35 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 26 06:56:09 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 true false Sat Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jan 15 19:01:27 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 30 16:38:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Apr 23 19:09:24 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 13:47:14 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Tue Oct 02 17:13:51 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 17:13:51 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Sep 10 18:23:55 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 10 18:26:42 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sat Jan 26 18:56:34 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 18:58:25 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 05 13:59:29 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 21:50:27 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun May 18 06:18:42 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 06:21:16 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Aug 18 20:13:05 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 20:14:10 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jul 23 22:36:32 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 23 23:21:11 -0700 2007 He made his point in the first 100 pages. The next 300 were extraneous. Loved his next book though. 5 Stars.
]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu Apr 19 12:17:52 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 19 12:18:41 -0700 2007 1 0 false false Tue Aug 19 14:35:29 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 14:35:29 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Tue Nov 18 18:13:49 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 18:50:19 -0800 2008 1 0 false false Wed Feb 06 21:32:40 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 14:06:13 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Mon May 12 22:51:03 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 22:51:22 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Mon Mar 26 16:47:37 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 15 23:12:08 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=189114