Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you.

"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves… Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater… After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts… New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld.

There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling No Logo, will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --

娜奧米·剋萊恩，（Naomi Klehin），1970年生於加拿大濛特利爾，記者、暢銷書作傢、社會活動傢、反全球化分子、電影製片人，以其對全球化的批判聞名於世。處女作《NO LOGO》（中譯本：廣西師範大學齣版社，2009年）一書，引起全球廣泛迴響。她被《泰晤士報》譽為“可能是三十五歲以下對世界最具影響力的人士”，《紐約時報》亦稱她“隱然是北美左派運動的代錶”。在大衛·赫爾曼的《全球公共知識分子排行榜》中，剋萊恩排行第11位，在世界公共知識分子中占有相當重要的地位。作者2007年所著《休剋主義：災難資本主義的興起》一書，對新自由主義和芝加哥學派發起最有力的挑戰，2009年贏得瞭首屆華威奬，再次贏得巨大的聲譽。