Monday, July 16, 2007

thanks, neoliberalism



Now that I've become a full-time college professor, I don't have much chance to read books anymore. I certainly don't have much chance to keep up with books on globalism and the many political crises that it has caused.

Still, given my limited reach, David Havey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism is the best book I've read on globalism in awhile, and it may be the best book on globalism period. Sure, many of the things it discusses (but by no means all) I knew something about already. But the book is both so concise and so precise that reading it made me feel that I understood many things more clearly and compactly: what neoliberalism is, when it started, and what its goals are. I came away from the book thinking of it as essential reading, as important as a work like Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle for understanding the world we live in.

For those who haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. For those who have, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book's strengths and weaknesses.

Funny though: one of the very few positive results of globalism is the books that describe it. I wish this book didn't have to exist at the same time that I'm very glad it does.

1 comment:

rodney k said...

Handy to know about. Thanks.