The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons, and High Finance Fraudsters
- Book Review,
by Greg Palast
From Publishers Weekly
Muckraking has a long, storied tradition, and Palast is evidently proud to be part of it. In this polemical indictment of globalization and political corruption, Palast (a reporter with the BBC and London's Observer) updates the muckraking tradition with some 21st-century targets: the IMF, World Bank and WTO, plus oil treaties, energy concerns and corporate evildoers of all creeds. Some of Palast's reports are downright shocking (if familiar). He shows, for example, how the WTO prevents cheap AIDS drugs from reaching victims in Africa and how World Bank loan policies have crippled the economies of Tanzania and other developing countries. On the home front, he details Exxon's horrific safety record before the Valdez disaster and reveals the price-gouging by Texas power companies during the California energy crisis. In Britain, Palast exposes the "cash for access" policies of the Blair administration, and blasts the legal system for shielding Pfizer Pharmaceuticals from lawsuits by victims who had defective Pfizer valves installed in their hearts. These are all good, important stories. Most of them, however, have been published before. This book is essentially a collection of Palast's newspaper articles, hastily stitched together with some commentary and exposition. As such, it lacks cohesiveness and the depth his subjects deserve. In addition, Palast's bombastic style and one-sided perspective do much to undermine his own credibility. How seriously should readers take a journalist who labels former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers an "alien" and dismisses Wal-Mart shareholders as "Wal-Martians"? There is much of value here, but readers who want a full-bodied, serious analysis of how globalization is affecting developing countries or how corporate giants pay for political favors should look elsewhere. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Those who prefer to see the world through rose-colored glasses will not enjoy this collection. It's the type of investigative journalism that mainstream media avoid for fear of censorship or accusations of libel. Is it true? The listener will have to decide. The presentation features an all-star cast of readers, renowned for their sympathy with liberal causes. The roll call includes Ed Asner, Al Franken, and Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. They tell a story of international intrigue that reaches from the oil fields of Texas to the gold mines of Africa to the ballot boxes of Florida. This is political commentary that, unfortunately, may ring with truth. J.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Vincent Bugliosi, author of "None Dare Call it Treason and "Helter Skelter"
"Palast is astonishing, he gets the real evidence no one else has the guts to dig up."
C-Span TV
" The last of the great journalists."
Alan Colmes, Fox Television network
"He is America's journalist hero of the Internet."
Village Voice, May 24, 2002
"...his book provides a road map for other journalists...Let's hope more DIY muckrakers heed the call."
Book Description
Award-winning investigative journalist Greg Palast digs deep to unearth the ugly facts that few reporters working anywhere in the world today have the courage or ability to cover. From East Timor to Waco, he has exposed some of the most egregious cases of political corruption, corporate fraud, and financial manipulation in the US and abroad. His uncanny investigative skills as well as his no-holds-barred style have made him an anathema among magnates on four continents and a living legend among his colleagues and his devoted readership. This exciting new collection brings together some of Palast's most powerful writing of the past decade. Included here are his celebrated "Washington Post" exposé on Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris's stealing of the presidential election in Florida, and recent stories on George W. Bush's payoffs to corporate cronies, the payola behind Hillary Clinton, and the faux energy crisis. Also included in this volume are new and previously unpublished material, television transcripts, photographs and letters.
Book Info
(Pluto Press) In this polemical indictment of globalization and political corruption, Palast, (a reporter with the BBC and London's Observer) updates the muckraking tradition with some 21st century targets: the IMF, World Bank and WTO, plus oil treaties, energy concerns and corporate evildoers of all creeds.
About the Author
Greg Palast is an investigative journalist whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Salon.com, and numerous other international newspapers, magazines, and online publications. He writes the "Inside Corporate America" column for The Observer (UK) and has been the subject of several documentaries, an NPR profile, and an upcoming "60 Minutes" feature. Greg won the prestigious Financial Times David Thomas Prize, in 1997 and the Industrial Society Investigative Story of the Year, in 1998, and he was nominated by the UK Press Association as Business Writer of the Year, in 1999. In 2000, Salon.com selected his report on the US elections as politics story of the year.
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