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Reviews
Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance by Marv Waterstone, Noam Chomsky
kwilke32's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Not a page turner in terms of entertainment but incredibly important topics are discussed. If this book doesn’t make you think about the structure of our society I don’t know what will.
roshreads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
The insights gained from the works of Chomsky are invaluable.
An essential read to understand and better articulate the myriad problems with capitalism.
An essential read to understand and better articulate the myriad problems with capitalism.
gijs's review against another edition
3.0
Solid analysis of the post WWII American political landscape; especially enjoyed Chomsky's excursions into the concept of commodification (in chronological order; of nature, of interhuman relations and of the individual human experience).
zachcarter's review against another edition
3.0
This is a solid collection of lectures from Chomsky and Waterstone. On the Chomsky side, it's a word-for-word regurgitation of his talks/writings from the past 50 years. He found a cadence and structure that he likes and he seldom swaps out a single word lol. It gets a little tiring because I can predict almost 100% of the sentences that are about to come up. Waterstone's lectures were more interesting, probably just because I'm not as familiar with his work. As it relates to capitalism's counterpart - socialism - I felt this pretty lacking. There's a good distillation of Capital vol 1 by Waterstone. But when socialist states were brought up (Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc), they were often done with derogatory intent. Whether it's calling every single one of them 'state capitalism' or spreading nonsense about China's social credit system, the pair are much more compelling when they're running through the history of U.S. aggression or the development of the political regime in the U.S.
For a relatively new leftie, this could be informative and generally positive. But for a more seasoned reader of history/leftist scholarship, it's just ok.
For a relatively new leftie, this could be informative and generally positive. But for a more seasoned reader of history/leftist scholarship, it's just ok.
bookbarker's review against another edition
5.0
A must-read. By far one of the most consequential books I've ever read.
zygomatic's review against another edition
4.0
Mostly sensible, though some conclusions are based on elite liberal biases (not even entertaining that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved with leaking Covid-19, and that China was honest about everything related to the virus is incredibly naive).
nferraro90's review against another edition
5.0
It’s Chomsky, ofc it’s getting 5 stars. Also Marv is no slouch himself, as the two dissect the problems handed to us by our ever growing monolith of an economic system. You could say it’s really beyond an economic system, as capitalism seems to be just the way of life, or “capitalist realism” as Mark Fisher calls it. We’re probably screwed, but at least we can die informed :)