This is an important book. A sweeping tour de force of the last 30-odd years of world economic history, The Shock Doctrine examines the rise of what is often known as "neoliberalism" and its toxic effect on every society exposed to it. This sounds pretty dry, but it's anything but. Klein's research traces the roots of neoliberalism--the ideology of radical free market capitalsm--from the twin incubators of the psych lab and Chicago School of Economics to its ascendant position in the world today. Most of us know about the horrors of Pinochet coup and the other similar abuses that accompanied dictatorhips in Indonesia and elsewhere. Most of us, too, know about the hideous abuses and corruption in Iraq. Fewer perhaps are aware of the complicity of neoliberalism in these and other nightmare societies, however, and it's for this reason that Klein's book is a must, because what she manages to do is show how systematically a antidemocratic ideology has been dismantling the structu...more
This is an important book. A sweeping tour de force of the last 30-odd years of world economic history, The Shock Doctrine examines the rise of what is often known as "neoliberalism" and its toxic effect on every society exposed to it. This sounds pretty dry, but it's anything but. Klein's research traces the roots of neoliberalism--the ideology of radical free market capitalsm--from the twin incubators of the psych lab and Chicago School of Economics to its ascendant position in the world today. Most of us know about the horrors of Pinochet coup and the other similar abuses that accompanied dictatorhips in Indonesia and elsewhere. Most of us, too, know about the hideous abuses and corruption in Iraq. Fewer perhaps are aware of the complicity of neoliberalism in these and other nightmare societies, however, and it's for this reason that Klein's book is a must, because what she manages to do is show how systematically a antidemocratic ideology has been dismantling the structures of society after society since the early 70s. And "antidemocratic" neoliberalism is: with virtually no important exceptions, in every country where radical free maket policies have been implemented, suppression of democratic control has been a precondition. Where feasible the suppression merely takes the form of IMF enforced austerity measure and kindred tools of fiscal strangulation, but where necessary it will and does resort to horrific violence to accomplish its ends.
What makes Klein's book dazzling is the way she ties together such disparate crises as Hurrican Katrina, Iraq, Chile, the Indonesian tsunami, and Iraq to show how, at every juncture, neoliberal ideologues used the crisis at hand to ram through its agenda in defiance of popular will. If you find it ironic that policies touted as "free market" have to use force and coercion to achieve its ends, then there's plenty more of the same in this book. Read it to understand how we got to where we are today, and how we can hopefully turn things around in the years to come....less
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism 
