In this groundbreaking alternative history of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free-market economic revolution, Naomi Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory. From Chile in 1973 to Iraq today, Klein shows how Friedman and his followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement their radical policies. As John Gray wrote inThe Guardian,"There are very few books that really help us understand the present.The Shock Doctrineis one of those books." Naomi Kleinis the award-winning author of the acclaimed international bestsellerNo Logoand the essay collectionFences and Windows. An internationally syndicated columnist, she co-created with Avi Lewis,The Take, a documentary film. Winner of the Warwick Prize for Writing Finalist for theLos AngelesTimesBook Prize Finalist for the New York Public Library Bernstein Award for Journalism ASan Francisco ChronicleNotable Book of the Year AChicagoSun-TimesFavorite Book of the Year APublishers WeeklyBest Book of the Year Winner of the Libris Award for Best Non-fiction Book of the Year (Canada) Finalist for the National Business Book Award (Canada) AGuardianandObserverFavorite Book of the Year (U.K.) The bestselling author ofNo Logoshows 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 Doctrineretells 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. Also available on CD as an abridged audiobook. Please email academic@macmillan.com for more information. "The Shock Doctrineis Klein's ambitious look at the economic history of the last 50 years and the rise of free-market fundamentalism around the world . . . Klein provides a rich description of the political machinations required to force unsavory economic policies on resisting countries, and 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. It is striking to be reminded how many of the people involved in the Iraq war were involved earlier in other shameless episodes in United States foreign policy history."--Joseph E. Stiglitz,The New York Times Book Revie