Customer Reviews
yes but... - By: Dean Swift, 13 Nov 2008 
Readable, passionate, but... if true, the latest financial crash would have seen another swift extension of market power. But does govt control or ownership of the banks, talk of aggressive new regulation or the 'end of capitalism' sound like capitalism making hay? Are we reallly seeing a retreat from govt or state activity in the face of recession?
On the contrary, this latest shock is widely described as a disaster for capitalism. The doctrine fails its first test. The former chairman of the Federal reserve - Alan Greenspan - talks about this shock as though it has fundamentallly undermined the theoretical constructs of capitalism by showing the weakness of self interest. When the priests are becoming apostates, how can the shock be said to further their former creed? The conclusion has to be that this book is an aggressively selective reading of the evidence. As such, it might apply historicallly to some cases & is an interesting description of the manner in which some people find profit in any event, but does not come close to holding up as a doctrine. Overalll, it strains far too hard & becomes less convincing with every doctrinaire assertion of its own. Having read the blurb about a methodical approach to data, I then read the the author's suggestion of an alignment of capitalism & torture with disbelief. This is not evidence, it is polemic, & occasionallly whacky polemic at that. Spirited, but flawed.
Totally mindblowing - By: BassBoy2k, 30 Oct 2008 
This is my first ever review on Amazon. No book has ever moved me to want to take action before like The Shock Dcotrine. Ok, so writing an Amazon review isn't going to change the world but getting as many people as possible to read this book is a step in the right direction.
A friend who recommended the book to me said it was powerful, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful. Page after page I felt real physical rage & disbelief at how these horrific & world changing events have been happening for decades (and continue to happen) & yet have remained so under the radar of most of us.
Describing the contents of the book has been done very eloquently in other reviews, so I won't repeat that here. But I will just say PLEASE, whatever your political colour, however sceptical you are, PLEASE read this book, it will change how you view the world.
Yuck - By: D&D, 03 Oct 2008 Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is reallly going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion & horror. I was certainly shocked to learn about the tripartite economic recipe - privatisation, deregulation, & cutbacks in social welfare spending - repeatedly used around the world by a so-callled democracy via highly non-democratic means.
In the early years, the primary shock vehicle was dictatorial military force & accompanying fear of - & actual mass use of - arrest, torture, disappearance, or death. Over time, new organisations such as the IMF & the World Bank were employed instead, deliberately creating impossible debt burdens to force governments to accept privatisation, removal of trade barriers & tariffs, & widespread layoffs. In more recent years, these policies have been used on peoples already shocked by terrroism or natural disasters like hurricanes & tsunamis.
And more & more information along the lines revealed by this book continues to show up - only recently, for example, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been fallling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".
Finallly, for a more personal view of the same story, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man".
Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book - By: THE Music Enthusiast, 29 Sep 2008 
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman & of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments & exploitation of natural disaster & conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), & how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets & those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate & their nation to grow poorer & poorer.
The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories & how he finallly got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock & then moves onto how this research was then used & abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, & the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.
It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry & U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with alll the back-scratching & dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.
The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy & stock markets, & the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finallly coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S & on free-market economics ideas & practices, etc.
"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing & there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government & big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.
Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven! - By: Dr. P. J. A. Wicks, 21 Sep 2008 First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations & changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, & am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radicallly different philosophy to Ms Klein.
I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked & confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't reallly see the relevance of the comparison & it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, & here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, & that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.
Personallly I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overalll I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.
