Overview

'A passionate, bracingly irreverent and always hugely readable lexicon of the political cant of the past decade' Independent At no other moment in history have the values of business and the corporation been more nakedly and arrogantly in the ascendant. Combining popular intellectual history with a survey of recent business culture, Thomas Frank traces an idea he calls 'market populism' - the notion that markets are, in some transcendent way, identifiable with democracy and the will of the people. The idea that any criticism of things as they are is -litist can be seen in management literature, where downsizing and ceaseless, chaotic change are celebrated as victories for democracy; in advertising, where an endless array of brands seek to position themselves as symbols of authenticity and rebellion; on Wall street, where the stock market is identified as the domain of the small investor and common man; and in the right-wing politics of the 1990s and the popular theories of Tom Peters, Charles Handy and Thomas Friedman. One Market Under God is Frank's counterattack against the onslaught of market propaganda. Mounted with the weapons of common sense it is lucid and tinged with anger, betrayal and a certain hope for the future.

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9780099422242

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Reviews

A brilliant, bracing slice and dice job on the pop culture of the New Economy * New York Observer * A dazzling manifesto for the anticapitalist movement... A seductive mixture of wit and polemic * Observer * A passionate, bracingly irreverent and always hugely readable lexicon of the political cant of the past decade * Independent *

This book is a compilation of essays written by the author for The Baffler magazine, whose editor was so impressed that he persuaded Frank to produce them as a book. The theme is that the world is so dominated by commerce and the needs of the marketplace that even in countries where the government is supposedly a socialist one, the needs of big business always come first. Although 'God' is in the title, this is not a religious book but a social commentary on the world, particularly America, as it is today. If you are not familiar with legislation passed by the Clinton administration in America much of what the author refers to will be hard to understand. However, many of the examples he gives, town meetings, focus groups, listening to the people tours by politicians, will be familiar to people in other democracies, although the author takes a rather cynical view of all these demonstrations of the democratic process. He takes a rather cynical view of some of America's business publications too, particularly the magazine Fortune and the writers Francis Fukuyama, George Gilder and Thomas Friedman, often with scathing wit and anger. If you are doing a Social Science university course this book will undoubtedly be on your reading list next year. (Kirkus UK)

A passionate, bracingly irreverent and always hugely readable lexicon of the political cant of the past decade Independent A dazzling manifesto for the anticapitalist movement... A seductive mixture of wit and polemic Observer A brilliant, bracing slice and dice job on the pop culture of the New Economy New York Observer

A passionate, bracingly irreverent and always hugely readable lexicon of the political cant of the past decade * Independent * A dazzling manifesto for the anticapitalist movement... A seductive mixture of wit and polemic * Observer * A brilliant, bracing slice and dice job on the pop culture of the New Economy * New York Observer *

Author Information

Thomas Frank is editor of The Baffler magazine. He lives in Chicago.

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