The Shock Doctrine
Ten Books to Read Before Christmas
The Observer, August 26, 2007
In this landmark history of the past three decades, the award-winning journalist, theorist, film-maker and author of No Logo attempts to explode the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Based on new historical research and four years of reporting in disaster zones, the book's premise is simple: America's 'free market' policies dominate the world through the exploitation of people and countries which have been 'disaster-shocked' - disorientated by wars, terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Klein gives a freshness to examples that feel familiar - US oil companies in Iraq, tourist resorts in tsunami-destroyed beaches, privatisation after hurricane Katrina - by placing them in a wider context that includes Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973 and the Falklands conflict in 1982.
In this landmark history of the past three decades, the award-winning journalist, theorist, film-maker and author of No Logo attempts to explode the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Based on new historical research and four years of reporting in disaster zones, the book's premise is simple: America's 'free market' policies dominate the world through the exploitation of people and countries which have been 'disaster-shocked' - disorientated by wars, terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Klein gives a freshness to examples that feel familiar - US oil companies in Iraq, tourist resorts in tsunami-destroyed beaches, privatisation after hurricane Katrina - by placing them in a wider context that includes Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973 and the Falklands conflict in 1982.
