Amazon Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review to be helpful:
A True Wake-Up Call, February 20, 2000
By Carol Grey
This easy to read book is for anyone who yearns to live a fuller more creative life and is wondering why they can't seem to be able to make any headway. It presents well documented, sometimes shocking, information you will never hear or read about in the media, interspersed with personal, relevent stories. It educates us as to how we are being manipulated by the media and by large transnational corporations and how this manipulation is affecting every area of our lives, from the emotional health of our children to the physical health of our bodies.
But the book doesn't leave you hanging, feeling helpless and depressed. It is filled with easy suggestions that we, as individuals, can do to turn back the tide and take back control. This book was a real eye-opener and I highly reommend it!
5 of 6 people found the following review to be helpful:
Okay overview, but inadequate and simplistic, October 19, 2005
By J. Grattan
Both of the authors are in the non-profit sector and focus on children issues, especially low-income. That is perhaps their starting point in recognizing the huge impact that corporations have on our society especially in areas of the media and entertainment, education, and the fragility and inadequacy of jobs. The book is a two-parter. In the first part, they give an overview that clearly shows that corporations are elephants stomping all over our society and molding it to their tastes; secondly, the authors urge people to somehow bypass this domination and recapture their lives.
Corporate domination is a result of resources that far exceed those of individual citizens, which have given corporations the ability to control the political process and system and sway the legal system. They control the various media, dishing out trivialities for news in lieu of thoughtful analysis and presenting nonsensical and violent entertainment, while bombarding the public with advertising that subtly creates artificial needs for dubious products. The corporate propaganda concerning family values has to be squared with the globalization movement secured through so-called trade agreements that are having devastating consequences for workers and families, as well as environmental impacts.
The authors are concerned with the passivity that people show towards this corporate onslaught. We watch their nonsense; we buy their image enhancing products; we vote for pro-corporate political candidates; we allow the corporate agenda to penetrate our schools; we shop at Wal-Mart despite its community killing effects, etc.
The authors' suggestions for countering corporate domination and taking back lives are really rather limited. They propose taking the initiative to turn off the TV, take on a development task, cut back on consumption, do volunteer work, find meaningful employment, shop locally, etc. They never say to whom their message is directed. It does seem simplistic and utterly unrealistic for most people, who are forced to conform to the status quo. There are tens of millions of so-called cultural creatives who already resist the corporate message but with little overall impact on corporate power.
The authors wrote in the late 1990s during an economic boom, where more seemed possible even though inequality was undergoing a huge upsurge. In late 2005, their message seems even more out-of-touch. The corporate agenda has an even greater lock on American society, if that is possible, in the Bush era. Oil companies have the ability to influence foreign policy and manipulate oil markets for outrageous profits at the expense of American families. The cynical manipulation of the religious right to gain voting power for the business right continues unabated. At this point, there are no countervailing forces in American society to corporate domination. Unions have been destroyed. There is no democratic (small "d") party. There is no means to even get a democratic message out. But there will have to be a democratic upsurge to counter corporate power. Political action must be taken because that is the basis of corporate power. Most legislation of the last twenty-five years needs to be rescinded and reissued with the needs of the public in mind. Developing one's self and volunteering may be admirable, but it is also mostly irrelevant against corporate power.
Yes, there are cracks in corporate power. Some can find those cracks - most cannot. They simply do not have the means or resources. These authors obviously do. One had $60,000 to run for Congress. In volume II they need to be advocating a real program for countering corporate power and recapturing our society for people, not monolithic entities with no soul.
5 of 7 people found the following review to be helpful:
A Solid Effort!, April 20, 2001
By Rolf Dobelli
In the pages of their new book, Ellen Schwartz and Suzanne Stoddard relate this quote from Paul Hawken's, The Ecology of Commerce: "There is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world." While Hawken was talking specifically about the physical Earth, Schwartz and Stoddard are not so limited in their condemnation. Business is destroying the world and everything in it: democracy, living wages, healthcare, the nutritional value of food and even our sanity. We'll put it simply: If you agree with that mindset, you'll love this book. If you have any doubts that corporations constitute an evil empire, you won't. Nevertheless, we [...] recommend that dedicated professionals read this double-barreled critique of the corporate world, just to know how the other side sees you.
1 of 5 people found the following review to be helpful:
Typical Marxist Drivel, May 1, 2006
By Elizabeth Hadley
I bought this book at a yard sale, just out of curiosity. It's been a good long time since I've had an opportunity to read some Marxist propaganda. Doggone it, the Soviet Union crashed and all the fun stopped. The propaganda wars of the 80s were a hoot for while. Between Vladimir Posner and the ever-dwindling, drowning CPUSA, we got a glimpse of a kinder, gentler Marxism. This book reads like something out of People's Daily World. I gave the book two stars for nostalgia value.
I read the book in one sitting and wasn't surprised at the conclusions it drew, that it is all the fault of the nasty capitalists who want only to enslave the beleaguered working class. They bombard us with advertising and like mindless dolts we go out and get ourselves in debt and become slaves to the system. Ultimately, the book is condescending and juvenilizing. Shame on you, authors! Treat your readers as intellectual equals! Typical of hardcore Marxists, you treat your fellow working people as not very bright, needing your divine guidance. It's always strikes me funny how none of these people plan on working in the pencil factory after the revolution.
There are two approaches one can take when confronted with the reality that workplaces have become increasingly toxic. (I agree with that assessment.) We can look to the nasty old government to change its ways or we can look to ourselves to create a living on our own, independent of corporations. I choose the second. Freedom is always the best option.
I recommend Claire Wolfe's "How to Kill the Job Culture Before It Kills You." It addresses these issues in a clever and intelligent manner and proposes reasonable solutions to "wage slavery."
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