Saturday, December 5, 2009

The Commanding Heights or The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy

Author: Daniel Yergin

The Pulitzer Prize-wimming author of The Prize joins a leading expert on the global economy to present an incisive narrative of the risks and opportunities that are emerging as the balance of power shifts around the world between governments and markets -- and the battle over globalization comes front and center. The Commanding Heights is essential for understanding the struggle over the "new rules of the game" for the twenty-first century.

NY Times Book Review

An ambitious, colorful, even suspenseful rendition of a world gaining faith in market forces while losing its belief in government dirigisme.



Table of Contents:
Introduction: At the Frontier9
1Thirty Glorious Years: Europe's Mixed Economy19
2The Curse of Bigness: America's Regulatory Capitalism46
3Tryst with Destiny: The Rise of the Third World67
4The Mad Monk: Britain's Market Revolution92
5Crisis of Confidence: The Global Critique125
6Beyond the Miracle: Asia's Emergence156
7The Color of the Cat: China's Transformation192
8After the Permit Raj: India's Awakening214
9Playing by the Rules: The New Game in Latin America230
10Ticket to the Market: The Journey After Communism262
11The Predicament: Europe's Search for a New Social Contract296
12The Delayed Revolution: America's New Balance325
13The Balance of Confidence: The World After Reform364
Chronology393
Notes399
Interviews419
Selected Bibliography421
Acknowledgments437
Index441

Book about: Homeopathy Pocket or Understanding Cosmetic Laser Surgery

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Author: Paul Krugman

In 1999, in The Return of Depression Economics, Paul Krugman surveyed the economic crises that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and pointed out that those crises were a warning for all of us: like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and financial wheeler-dealers made vast profits, the international crises of the 1990s faded from memory. But now depression economics has come to America: when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the U.S. financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries caught up in earlier crises and a replay of the 1930s seems all too possible.

In this greatly updated edition of The Return of Depression Economics, Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an increasingly out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world as a whole, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Krugman's trademark style -- lucid, lively, and supremely informed -- this edition will become an instant cornerstone of the debate over how to respond to the crisis.

About the Author
PAUL KRUGMAN is the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics. He writes a twice-weekly Op-Ed column for The New York Times and a blog named for his 2007 book, The Conscience of a Liberal. He teaches economics at Princeton University.



Friday, December 4, 2009

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent or The Synonym Finder

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent

Author: Gary Keller

Take your real estate career to the highest level!

"Whether you are just getting started or a veteran in the business, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is the step-by-step handbook for seeking excellence in your profession and in your life."
--Mark Victor Hansen, cocreator, #1 New York Times bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul

"This book presents a new paradigm for real estate and should be required reading for real estate professionals everywhere."
--Robert T. Kiyosaki, New York Times bestselling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent explains:

  • Three concepts that drive production
  • Economic, organizational, and lead generation models that are the foundations of any high-achiever's business
  • How to "Earn a Million," "Net a Million," and "Receive a Million" in annual income



Book about: Unleashing the Idea Virus or ABC for Book Collectors

The Synonym Finder

Author: J I Rodal

Originally published in 1978 by the founder of Rodale Press, The Synonym Finder continues to be a practical reference tool for every home and office.



Thursday, December 3, 2009

Juggling Elephants or No B S Marketing to the Affluent

Juggling Elephants: An Easier Way to Get Your Most Important Things Done--Now!

Author: Jones Loflin

Read by Oliver Wyman

Juggling Elephants tells a simple but profound story about a universal problem-too much to do, too many priorities, too much stress, too little time. If your life has gotten as crazy as a three-ring circus, this book will really help you get your priorities straight.

Publishers Weekly

In this fun parable written by corporate trainers Loflin and Musig, the hero, Mark, gets more than just an afternoon of family time out of a visit to the circus with his daughter-he gets a new way of organizing his life. Using the extended metaphor of the three-ring circus, this short volume is written as a dialogue between Mark and his ringmaster mentor, who teaches him how to better coordinate the activities happening in each ring. Readers who take themselves too seriously might have trouble getting past the large print, circus illustrations and a dialogue style more commonly found in children's books. But the book passes along several circus maxims that easily translate to balancing professional and personal relationships as well as one's personal pursuits, such as "the ringmaster cannot be in all three rings at once" and "the key to the success of the circus is having quality acts in all three rings." While the advice is not new, the presentation helps it stick in your head, increasing the odds of keeping your act together. (Sept. 6)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information



Books about: Youre Broke Because You Want to Be or Project Management

No B. S. Marketing to the Affluent: The Ultimate, No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Getting Really Rich

Author: Dan S Kennedy

FREE-Audio CD INSIDE PLUS Voucher for FREE Webinars, Tele-Seminar and Newsletters

“Follow the money!”

Here it is: no warm 'n fuzzies-just hard-core strategies from real world trenches…for successfully repositioning your business, products, services and yourself to attract customers or clients for whom price is NOT a determining factor in their purchasing. The TRUTH is it takes no more work to attract customers/clients from the explosively growing Mass-Affluent, Affluent and Ultra-Affluent populations eager to pay premium prices in return for exceptional expertise, service and experiences. This is the fastest and surest path to prosper in tough times (selling to those least affected by recession) and to get rich in good times!

  • Understand the explosive growth of the affluent customer population-where there is LESS competition and much MORE profit
  • Practical Strategies Revealed: Lamborghini, Disney, the famous J. Peterman catalogs, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, $2,995 lobsters, Cold Stone Creamery, gourmet pizza, fashion-designer golf bags, and over 50 other fascinating and diverse true-life examples
  • E-FACTORS: 10 surprising Emotional Buy Triggers the affluent find irresistible
  • MILLION-DOLLAR MARKETING SYSTEM: Step-by-step blueprint comparable to those developed for six-figure clients, ready for do-it-yourself use
  • THE MAGIC LANGUAGE OF “MEMBERSHIP”: applied to any business for the affluent…from pizza shops and medical practices to retail stores and pet hotels

Dan Kennedy is provocative, irreverent and sarcastic-but most important, he's effective. His unmatchable advice to entrepreneurshas earned him the moniker “Millionaire Maker.” Every year, he and his network of consultants help more than a million business owners succeed!



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon or Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder

Author: Kenny Moor

No man has affected more runners in more ways than Bill Bowerman. During his 24-year tenure as track coach at the University of Oregon, he won four national team titles and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records. He also ignited the jogging boom, invented the waffle-sole running shoe that helped establish Nike, and coached the US track and field team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games

With the full cooperation of the Bowerman family and Nike, plus years of taped interviews with friends, relatives, students, and competitors, two-time Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore - himself one of Bowerman's champion athletes - brilliantly re-creates the legendary track coach's life.



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments     ix
Men of Oregon     1
That Wild Yearning     9
Lizzie and the Governor     17
Wild Bill Meets a Mule Skinner     25
Barbara     32
The University of Oregon     41
Bill Hayward     49
Medford     61
The Tenth Mountain Division     68
First Principles     82
A Friend, a Son, a Community     98
A Dynasty Begins     105
Rome     114
Innovation     123
The 1962 Season     131
The AAU Dictatorship     140
Jogging     146
The Birth of BRS     156
Tokyo     161
A curious Mind     181
Rites of Passage     187
Lessons Inserted     203
Mexico City     214
Enter, Prefontaine     234
BRS Become Nike     257
Munich     273
Transit and Sorrow     305
Legacy     331
Rajneeshpuram     369
Builderman     380
Immortal Messages     399
Index     418

Go to: Bar and Beverage Book or The Comfort Food Cookbook

Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry: The Complete Guide to Turning Your Passion into Profit

Author: Viki Lareau

Marketing and Selling Handmade Jewelry is the only book that focuses specifically on marketing and selling beading and handmade jewelry in the craft market. Viki Lareau provides practical advice and encouragement to do it right and do it with flair.

  • First Step - Match your design style and time commitment with the appropriate target market.
  • Second Step - Learn the nitty-gritty of setting up a home-based business.
  • Third Step - Develop a distinctive "look" for brochures, ads, hang tags, show signage.
  • Last but not Least - Master the fine are of pricing for profit
The reader will revel in the success stories of women who have made it work. Viki, co-owner of The Bead Factory in Tacoma, Washington, and cofounder of the Puget Sound Bead Festival, has mentored hundreds of beaders and jewelry makers on their way to success.

Talented women everywhere are looking to turn their craft skills into supplementary or primary income. This book is a compilation of Viki's knowledge, wisdom, and experience - an essential business guide for creative jewelry artists.

Detroit News Crafts Blog

If you're serious about starting a jewelry-making business, then the place to start is with [this book].

BellaOnline.com Guide to Jewelry Making

Optimistic, but also straightforward, helpful, and honest.

Monsters and Critics.com

Pricing is always a problem for crafters and here, Lareau's formula comes to the rescue.

BeadUnique

The wealth of useful tips and tricks contained within the pages of the book come to life in stories about women who have been successful at starting and running their jewelry businesses . . . the perfect reference guide for any potential jewelry entrepreneur.



Monday, November 30, 2009

The SPIN Selling Fieldbook or Effective Executive

The S.P.I.N. Selling Fieldbook: Practical Tools, Methods, Exercises and Resources

Author: Neil Rackham

Strategies and tools that guarantee big-ticket sales!

Neil Rackham's national bestseller SPIN Selling revolutionized high-end selling. Now, The SPIN Selling Fieldbook shows you how to actually put into practice the proven tools and techniques outlined in that cutting-edge guide. After a review of the SPIN method of selling, Neil Rackham zeroes in on the critical SPIN® questioning behaviors. He shows you how to apply the tools and techniques to your own selling situation, using practical, skill-building exercises incorporated into each chapter. Addressing the sales of services as well as capital goods, the Fieldbook provides you with a hands-on implementation guide for applying SPIN in a wide range of businesses from localized companies to large multinationals. Real-life case studies of sales forces at leading-edge companies such as Motorola, Johnson & Johnson, and AT&T help you explore additional techniques that go beyond the basics to boost sales with even the toughest customers and clients.



Table of Contents:
This Book.The SPIN Model. Check It Out. Putting Spin in Context. Putting Spin to Work. Buyer Needs. Situation Questions. Problem Questions. Implication Questions. Need-Payoff Questions. Demonstrating Capability. Increasing Your Impact. Putting It All Together. Beyond Spin. Forms and Other Tools.

Book review: Country Range Cookbook or Frying of Food

Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

Author: Peter F Drucker

What makes an effective executive?

The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results.

Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned:
  • Managing time
  • Choosing what to contribute to the organization
  • Knowing where and how to mobilize strength for best effect
  • Setting the right priorities
  • Knitting all of them together with effective decision-making

Ranging widely through the annals of business and government, Peter F. Drucker demonstrates the distinctive skill of the executive and offers fresh insights into old and seemingly obvious business situations.



Encore Effect or Free to Choose

Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do

Author: Mark Sanborn

Whether you want to win that new account or inspire your family and friends, bestselling author and acclaimed speaker Mark Sanborn shows us how to make every performance count.

Every day, we are called to perform— at work, at home, in our communities. But is it possible to make every performance outstanding, the kind that leaves people applauding for an encore?

Mark Sanborn, leadership expert and bestselling author of The Fred Factor, says that anyone can achieve remarkable performance time after time—no matter what their personality, strengths, or weaknesses. In The Encore Effect Sanborn demonstrates, through his own experiences as well as those of the people he’s worked with in his career, how you can cultivate the traits shared by remarkable performers and achieve extraordinary results in all aspects of your life. The secrets lie in five steps:

Passion: The fuel for remarkable performance
Prepare: How remarkable performance begins
Practice: It won’t make you perfect, but it will make you better
Perform: How to engage your audience
Polish: Making your performance shine

Whether your “stage” is an office, a sales floor, the boardroom, or your own home, Sanborn’s sound advice and rousing encouragement will help you shine in every situation where it matters most.



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments     ix
Warning!     1
Introduction     3
Understanding the Encore Effect
The Power of Encore Performances     7
From Routine to Remarkable-Make Them Want More!     13
Why Remarkable Performance Matters     23
A Different Kind of PDA     37
Achieving the Encore Effect
Passion: The Fuel for Remarkable Performance     47
Preparation: Where Remarkable Performance Begins     57
Practice: It Won't Make You Perfect, but It Will Make You Better     67
Performance: How to Engage Your Audience     81
Polish: Making Your Performance Shine     91
Pitfalls: How to Keep from Stumbling     101
Sharing the Encore Effect
How to Help Others Perform Remarkably     113
From Remarkable Performer to Remarkable Person     121
Epilogue     131

Interesting textbook: Disciplinary Revolution or The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement: A Personal Statement

Author: Milton Friedman

The international bestseller on the extent to which personal freedom has been eroded by government regulations and agencies while personal prosperity has been undermined by government spending and economic controls. New Foreword by the Authors; Index.



Sunday, November 29, 2009

Mr Playboy or The Shock Doctrine

Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream

Author: Steven Watts

When Hugh Hefner quit his job at Esquire to start a magazine called Playboy, he didn't just want to make money.  He wanted to make dreams come true.  The first issue of Playboy had a Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an article on the Dorsey brothers, and a feature on desk design for the modern office, called "Gentlemen, Be Seated." Hefner wrote much of the copy himself and drew all the cartoons.  But the most memorable part by far was the set of pictures he bought from a local calendar printer of a scantily clad Marilyn Monroe. 

In this wise and penetrating biography, intellectual historian Steven Watts looks at what Hugh Hefner went onto become, and how he took America with him.  Hefner became one of the most hated and envied celebrities in America, dating a long list of his magazine's beauties and always standing just barely on the wrong side of decency and moral uprightness. He also, at one time, had 7 million subscribers to his magazine.  Though in time he would lose readers to more explicit magazines on one side and "lad" magazines on the other, the Playboy brand never lost its luster.

Publishers Weekly

As he did in his previous books on Henry Ford (The People's Tycoon) and Walt Disney (The Magic Kingdom), Watts carefully details the life of Hugh Hefner and the influence his Playboy magazine has had on American culture. Using unrestricted access to the magazine's archives, Watts skillfully charts the intersection of Hefner's professional and personal history: the "sexual titillation" of his first issue; his mid- to late-1960s championing of leftist politics and writers such as Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut; his 1970s retrenchment after assaults by the women's liberation movement; his financial and personal troubles in the '80s and '90s; and his current position as the "retro cool" figurehead of an institution that is now a "midsize communications and entertainment company." Watts evokes a time when Playboy was seen by its critics as a key "symptom of decadence in American life," and is at his best when exploring his subject's early years, showing how Hefner's sexual and material "ethic of self-fulfillment" drove him to challenge "the social conventions of postwar America." (Oct.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lani Smith - Library Journal

Hugh Hefner started Playboy magazine in 1953 using purchased photos of Marilyn Monroe, and including the article "Miss Gold Digger 1953" about women who "manipulate the legal system for alimony." Hefner positioned the magazine as respectable, with articles by celebrated writers, interviews, and advice columns, accompanied with photos of nude models and ads, all combined to help promote a notion of "the good life." And so it was in his publicly lead private life, complete with famous people, naked women (he was allowed to date other people, his girlfriends were not), and a home in the "Playboy mansion." Watts outlines the man and magazine's influence on the country's notions of personal liberation, sexual freedom, and material abundance. Clocking in at over 500 pages, this is not a gossip book but a well-documented biography written with access to Hefner's over 1800 scrapbooks, the company archives, and interviews. Watts finds Hefner comparable to the subjects of his other books about Henry Ford and Walt Disney in that all were major contributors to aspects of the American dream. Recommended for public libraries and cultural studies collections.

Kirkus Reviews

Detailed assessment of the debatably enviable life of America's bachelor. Examining Playboy archives (Hef is something of a pack rat) and Hefner's own journals, Watts (History/Univ. of Missouri; The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century, 2005, etc.) constructs a nuanced portrait of Hefner's life that also serves as a panorama of hip culture from the 1950s onward-Sinatra, JFK and many others put in appearances. Watts convincingly argues that Hefner anticipated a number of distinct trends that transformed American society, including postwar consumerism, feminism (whose adherents, generally speaking, castigated Hef) and, of course, the'60s sexual revolution. Watts unearths the narrative of Hefner's childhood in Chicago in the '30s. Within his deeply religious family, he was doted on by his mother and neglected by a mostly absent father, creating "a child who was extraordinarily self-absorbed." Certainly, Hefner was fascinated by sexuality and how its acknowledgement was forbidden, but as he noted later, "Pop culture was my other parent." As an unhappy young man with fond memories of his high-school popularity, Hefner synthesized these personal interests into the legendary 1953 "homemade" first issue of Playboy. (An early nude picture of Marilyn Monroe demonstrated his acumen.) Hefner described the magazine as "a pleasure-primer styled to the masculine taste," and it took off. By the '60s, Hefner was engaged in controversy, via his "Playboy Philosophy," and expansion, as the famed Playboy Clubs helped him build a business empire that reflected his sybaritic lifestyle in his notorious mansion. Circulation peaked in the swinging '70s (as did an ugly drug controversy); the'80s were less kind, as the brand seemed dated. Hefner resembles a chameleon in Watts's mostly sympathetic portrait, variously appearing as a prescient social critic, an early supporter of civil rights, a generous Gatsby figure and a cranky, obsessive sex addict. The author captures the transitions in American society, though he's repetitive in details and themes, and rather tame, if tasteful, in depicting the sexual exploits that always surrounded Hefner and his empire. Probably the last word on the man behind a million adolescent fantasies. Agent: Ron Goldfarb/Goldfarb & Associates



Table of Contents:

Introduction The Boy Next Door 1

Pt. I Beginnings

1 A Boy at Play 11

2 Boot Camp, College, and Kinsey 34

3 The Tie That Binds 49

Pt. II Ascent

4 How to Win Friends and Titillate People 69

5 Hedonism, Inc 85

6 The Pursuit of Happiness 105

7 An Abundant Life 123

8 Living the Fantasy 143

Pt. III Triumph

9 The Philosopher King 169

10 The Happiness Explosion 187

11 Make Love, Not War 206

12 What Do Women Want? 228

13 Down the Rabbit Hole 250

14 Disneyland for Adults 272

Pt. IV Malaise

15 A Hutch Divided 297

16 The Dark Decade 323

17 The Party's Over 346

18 Strange Bedfellows 367

Pt. V Resurgence

19 The Bride Wore Clothes 391

20 All in the Family 407

21 Back in the Game 426

Epilogue: Playboy Nation 447

Notes 455

Index 515

New interesting book: The Future of Ideas or Implementing SAP ERP Sales Distribution

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Author: Naomi Klein

The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq

In her groundbreaking reporting over the past few years, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.

The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq.

At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.

Author Biography
Naomi Klein is the award-winning author of the acclaimed international bestseller No Logo and the essay collection Fences and Windows. An internationally syndicated columnist, she co-created with Avi Lewis, The Take, a documentary film.

The New York Times - Joseph E. Stiglitz

One of the world's most famous antiglobalization activists and the author of the best seller No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, Klein provides a rich description of the political machinations required to force unsavory economic policies on resisting countries, and of the human toll. She paints a disturbing portrait of hubris, not only on the part of Friedman but also of those who adopted his doctrines, sometimes to pursue more corporatist objectives.

The Washington Post - Shashi Tharoor

The Shock Doctrine is a valuable addition to the corpus of popular books that have attempted to rethink the big ideas of our post-Cold War age. Francis Fukuyama's notion of the "end of history"—the idea that all societies would be governed by liberal democracy and free markets—started the process of reflection; Samuel Huntington's concept of the "clash of civilizations" underpinned much of the anxiety that followed the realization that reports of history's demise were exaggerated. Thomas Friedman's celebration of the flatness of the globalized world is now countered by Klein's argument that when disasters flatten societies, capitalists see opportunities to profit and spread their influence. Each thesis has its flaws, but each contributes to the contest of ideas about the shape and direction of our current Age of Uncertainty. For this reason, and for the vigor and accessibility with which she marshals her argument, Naomi Klein is well worth reading.

Mark Engler - Dissent

This is an ambitious book, an accomplished book, and an important one, too. It makes contributions in several key ways.

Publishers Weekly

The neo-liberal economic policies-privatization, free trade, slashed social spending-that the "Chicago School" and the economist Milton Friedman have foisted on the world are catastrophic in two senses, argues this vigorous polemic. Because their results are disastrous-depressions, mass poverty, private corporations looting public wealth, by the author's accounting-their means must be cataclysmic, dependent on political upheavals and natural disasters as coercive pretexts for free-market "reforms" the public would normally reject. Journalist Klein (No Logo) chronicles decades of such disasters, including the Chicago School makeovers launched by South American coups; the corrupt sale of Russia's state economy to oligarchs following the collapse of the Soviet Union; the privatization of New Orleans's public schools after Katrina; and the seizure of wrecked fishing villages by resort developers after the Asian tsunami. Klein's economic and political analyses are not always meticulous. Likening free-market "shock therapies" to electroshock torture, she conflates every misdeed of right-wing dictatorships with their economic programs and paints a too simplistic picture of the Iraq conflict as a struggle over American-imposed neo-liberalism. Still, much of her critique hits home, as she demonstrates how free-market ideologues welcome, and provoke, the collapse of other people's economies. The result is a powerful populist indictment of economic orthodoxy. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Kirkus Reviews

Klein (Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate, 2002, etc.) tracks the forced imposition of economic privatization, rife with multinational corporate parasites, on areas and nations weakened by war, civil strife or natural disasters. The author follows John Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 2004) and others in pointing an alarmed finger at a global "corporatocracy" that combines the worst features of big business and small government. The difference is that Klein's book incorporates an amount of due diligence, logical structure and statistical evidence that others lack. As a result, she is persuasive when she links past and present events, including the war in Iraq and trashing of its economy, to the systematic march of laissez-faire capitalism and the downsizing of the public sector as both a worldview and a political methodology. Klein fully establishes the influence of U.S. economist Milton Friedman, who died in November 2006, as champion of the free-market transformations that occurred initially in South America, where Friedmanite minions trained at the University of Chicago in the 1960s worked their wiles on behalf of some of the 20th century's most repressive regimes. On to China's Tiananmen Square, then to the collapsed Soviet Union, where oligarchs soared and the underclass was left to starve in the 1990s. More recent developments include forcing private development on the tsunami-ravaged beachfronts of South Asia and junking the public-school system in favor of private charter schools in post-Katrina New Orleans. Just as provocative is Klein's analysis of the Bush administration's rampant outsourcing of U.S. governmentresponsibilities, including the entire "homeland security industry," to no-bid corporate contractors and their expense-laden chains of subcontractors. Her account of that methodology's consequences in Iraq, as mass unemployment coincided with the disbanding of a standing army whose soldiers took their guns home, leaves little doubt as to why there is an enduring insurgency. Required reading for anyone trying to pierce the complexities of globalization.