False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism

Amazon.com

Back when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister of Great Britain, John Gray was an influential conservative thinker, whose writings helped influence the revitalization of the laissez-faire market in that country. Now, as free-market champions seek to make over the (mostly) postcommunist world in their own image, Gray has experienced a moment of apostasy. False Dawn argues that, far from bringing about economic paradise, global capitalism, left unchecked, "could well destroy liberal civilization." Gray is careful to distinguish "global capitalism" from "globalization," which he identifies as a broader tendency encompassing "the increasing interconnection of economic and cultural life in distant parts of the world." That societies around the world are coming into closer contact with each other is inevitable; that they will have to do so in a free market, particularly one largely shaped by Anglo-American economic values, is not. In fact, Gray says, pointing to the recent economic crises in Asia and Russia, such a model will not bring societies together, but may well tear them apart. "A worldwide free market," he warns, "is no more self-regulating than the national free markets of the past.... Unless it is reformed radically, the world economy risks falling apart in a replay, at once tragic and farcical, of the trade wars, competitive devaluations, economic collapses and political upheavals of the 1930s."

Book Description

powerful and prophetic challenge to globalization from a former partisan of the New Right. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as both "a convincing analysis of an international economy" and a "powerful challenge to economic orthodoxy," False Dawn shows that the attempt to impose the Anglo-American-style free market on the world will create a disaster, possibly on the scale of Soviet communism. Even America, the supposed flagship of the new civilization, risks moral and social disintegration as it loses ground to other cultures that have never forgotten that the market works best when it is embedded in society. John Gray, well known in the 1980s as an important conservative political thinker, whose writings were relied upon by Margaret Thatcher and the New Right in Britain, has concluded that the conservative agenda is no longer viable. In his examination of the ripple effects of the economic turmoil in Russia and Asia on our collective future, Gray provides one of the most passionate polemics against the utopia of the free market since Carlyle and Marx.

Customer Reviews:

Capitalism will end Democracy.......2005-07-26

A very bleak and insightful book.
I'll let Mr Gray speak in his own words.
Gray notes that current US policy is "a game plan for a cultural civil war...In the United States, as elsewhere, free markets evoke powerful social and political counter-movements. The chronic economic risk that they impose on the majority of the population is fertile ground for populist politicians."

"No western government today has a credible successor to the policies which secured western society against mass unemployment in the Keynesian era...The social democratic objective of full employment cannot now be achieved by social democratic policies."

It's the begining of the end for US democracy...

False Impressions........2004-12-17

Written by a Britisher, America is lambasted in this little treatise but, in a way, we are noted as a leader of the 'new civilization' with all its faults. It is villified in odd ways.

America persists in identifying modernity throughout the world in relation to itself. The prophet of today's America is not Thomas Jefferson or James Madison. Still less Edmund Burke, though we do like to quote him on occasion. In his long ramblings about the Cold War and the Soviet collapse, he calls Newt Gingrich a radical from The Right. Ronald Reagan, when U. S. President, was not, he says, any kind of liberal and could not foresee the economic counter-revolution which occurred. During his presidency,much of American industry was kept afloat by subsidies, condoning economic inequality. So, what else is new? He calls it a 'deregulated' economy.

He quotes Henry Kissinger about our national interest, calling it military-led and 'protectionistic.' His understanding of 'the American Creed' and the founding of the Constitution is an 'embodiment of universal truths whose future is assured by history.' The cover of this hedonistic British slap at USA has the "all-seeing eye" on a dollar bill (US currency) used in the film, NATIONAL TREASURE. That's all they have in common.

He dwells on free market and 'laissez-faire,' saying that "liberalism is dominant in the U.S. only in the sense that genuine conservative philosophy no longer exists." I disagree. Then, he goes on to say that "to be perceived as a liberal is a political liability."

This British John Gray called former U.S. President Bill Clinton a political shaman, causing an underclass which has no hope and an overclass who denies civic obligations. "Remolding American society to suit the imperatives of free market has involved the use of corporate power and federal government to bring about levels of economic inequality unknown since the 1920s."

He accuses America as an arrogant 'utopian' place where its faith in being a unique country, 'the model for a universal civilization' which all societies are fated to emulate. According to him, "America persists in identifying modernity throughout the world in relation to itself."

He points out the tragedy of family breakdown and the lack of extended family support. He blames it on deregulated labor markets, divorce, and the incarceration rates where he compared Britian's "fewer than one in a thousand" to America's "one in a hundred" being behind bars. His thesis that over a million people would be seeking work if American penal policies resembled those of any other western country. My question is "where are the jobs?" Should we create another Australia and empty the prisons?

The high rate of crime and incarceration in the U. S. are on a par with large numbers of lawyers and the huge levels of litigation. America's incarceration rates run parallel with its rates of violent crime, which this author blames on the U.S. abundant gun culture. Throughout human history, wars have arisen from territorial conflicts and economic interests.

Again, where are the jobs? Many U.S. factories continue to use other countries to manufacture deficient products by using cheap labor elsewhere, causing unemployment to skyrocket. Huge conglomerates like Wal-Mart (with their cheap merchandise) force smaller chains to fold or merge, and so they profit by using other places at the expense of the willing workers of America.

John Gray is a professor of European thought at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of Britain's leading public intellectuals and an important conservative thinker. His far-fetched opinions that 'the movement toward free markets, goods and ideas is not a naturally occurring process but rather a political project that rests on American power" is just passing the buck.

After all his 'put downs' no way would I believe that he feels America is a 'flagship of the new civilization.' We can learn by studying the failures of the old civilizations, and not place blame.

Much more than McWorld-ization - A political perspective.......2004-06-14

This is a very well written book that brings out a political perspective on Globalization, Free Trade and its impact/consequences.

Unlike most books which run into conspiracy theories of Capitalism running amok and corporations driving covert agendas, this book instead takes a look at the political scenarios existing in various key countries & the complex interplay between the political history of the state & the impact of capitalism & hence the very role of the State. After dissecting Britain & the US, the author goes on to give very well researched examples from Russia and East Asian States - he covers the political history of each of these places & clearly outlines how Capitalism morphs into a regional variant under different political systems and the consequences of this morphing.

The author powerfully argues how Capitalism & Globalization are not delinked from the role of the State ... and debunks the myth of a single universal culture. The book ends on a dark note where it raises serious questions about the presence & effectiveness of a Global governing body to handle the inadequacies of capitalism, driven by technological globalization.

Its not an easy book to read, and requires a good knowledge of political history (US/UK/Russia/Singapore/China/Japan) & basic economics; but once finished, it is a definitive eye opener from a political perspective, on how the situation today has developed and what the future holds out.

A powerful book the brings globalization to close scrutiny.......2004-05-22

One of the more interesting thing about the London School of Economics Professor is that his writings have encompass many fields. In most of Gray's writings you see him as a philosopher and a political thinker but this books break ground as it enters into economic fields. If you were to go to a bookstore you would more likely find this book in the economic section.

False Dawn provides a precise view of what globalization is. Gray's book is important such that what runs throughout the course of his book is that he constantly reminds us what globalization is and what globalization is not.

To put this more clearly globalization is not as Gray contends a default arguement after the collapse of the Soviet Union but more so mankind's careless approach and domination of the environment and the continued promotion of the so-called Enlightment Project.

As a matter of fact it is this book that was credited for Asian economic crises in the late 1990s. This is a must read book and I strongly recommend that you purchase it.

A candid look into global capitalism.......2004-02-08

As far as skeptics of globalization go, John Gray has to rank high. Formerly a Thatcher conservative and now a market skeptic, Mr. Gray's credentials alone take him a long way. It is no wonder, then, that what he has to write about globalization should be worth reading.

All the same, "False Dawn" is likely to produce mixed feelings. Its eight-fold argument is hard to keep track of, rendering interesting observations seem like unnecessary transgressions. Mr. Gray's fluid writing style that consists of short paragraphs makes for an enjoyable read, but at times, speed and brevity come at the expense of depth; all too often, the reader is likely to demand more from the book.

Still, the argument itself has merits, particularly in showing how free markets need a strong government to engineer them (as opposed to them springing naturally). Mr. Gray's continuous dialectic between the economic imperatives of a capitalist system and its social consequences is surely to excite skeptics of liberalism and trouble its supporters. From the perspective of political theory, Mr. Gray's contribution is invaluable.

But as with the arguments of many skeptics, Mr. Gray's overlooks certain uncomfortable realities. At the heart of Mr. Gray's thesis is the tradeoff between the flexibility of markets and the human need for economic security. For Mr. Gray, capitalism's very dynamism is likely to lead to its fall. At the same time, Mr. Gray pays scant reference either to the need for security itself or to the political shortfalls of providing security and social cohesion. After all, the engineering of markets came to save failing economies. It is not at all clear where Mr. Gray would have us go if not towards free markets.

As the argument moves from political theory to economics, its appeal lessens. The economics of globalization (bad capitalism driving out good capitalism) are at the center of Mr. Gray's thesis. What is absent, however, is a comprehensive review of the economic literature which takes issue with this position. Absent such a refutation of the opposite side of the argument, Mr. Gray invites his readers to dismiss his arguments all too easily.

In the end, Mr. Gray makes a (stretched) comparison between Marxism and liberalism. It is true that they are both products of the Enlightenment whose belief in reason and progress is paramount; and it is true that both need strong governments to work. But the scope of government is different under them. What is also different is the benefits that each system gives to its people-both might bring dislocation, but liberalism has many merits, while Marxism had few.

In fact, Mr. Gray's unwillingness to recognize how markets increase human agency more so than political participation surfaces as the primary drawback of his argument. And, Mr. Gray's overlooking of how the market too can provide for economic security might displease some forward-looking economic thinkers.

But for all its shortcomings, "False Dawn" is as good a book as one can find about the potential drawbacks of the global economic system. Whether Mr. Gray's prediction that anarchy is the next stage in human development comes true is another matter; but, if anarchy comes, Mr. Gray will have told us why.

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"Duck Feathers And Flapdoodle!"

There's much better out there

Not Levine's best- but his average is better than most!

False Dawn
Paul Levine
Manufacturer: Crimeline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Levine, Paul | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Fool Me Twice: A Jake Lassiter Novel

9 Scorpions

ASIN: 0553565044
Release Date: 1994-03-01

Customer Reviews:

"Duck Feathers And Flapdoodle!".......2005-07-22

"False dawn" is an atmospheric anomaly which causes the observer to believe that sunrise is about to peek over the horizon---at 3 AM. As a metaphor for illusion, Paul Levine could have picked no better title for this, his third Jake Lassiter novel, in which nothing is as it appears.

Jake, Levine's comic hero ex-linebacker, ex-Public Defender, ex-a-lot-of-things, is initially hired to defend small-time hood Francisco Crespo on a murder charge. As Jake investigates the circumstances, he realizes that Crespo is not only Not Guilty of killing fellow longshoreman Vladimir Smorodinsky---he is clearly innocent, having been unconscious at the time of the killing. Yet, Crespo seems willing to take the rap. Jake asks him why---and Crespo is shortly thereafter found dead.

Jake's hunt for the truth, which takes up the entire second half of the book, quickly begins to resemble a bucket full of freshly-dug earthworms.

It seems that Crespo's employer, Japanese industrialist and art collector Matsuo Yagamata has business contacts in Moscow, and that Crespo's killer is a man named Kharchenko aka former KGB man Stankevich, and that the CIA's man on the scene, Foley, is an art thief or just maybe it's all been bought and paid for and is in safekeeping, and that Jake's new girl, the stunning blonde sailboarder Jillian from Minnesota is really a Finnish agent, Eva Lisa from Helsinki, and that the Cuban patriot-Exilado Severo Soto and his daughter Lourdes are really working for the CIA, or possibly it's the KGB, or it might be Fidel Castro, or maybe not, and that the Faberge egg at the center of it all is a forgery, or maybe only a rock, shades of THE MALTESE FALCON.

In short, the plot has more twists and turns than the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. A simple double-cross doesn't exist anywhere in the world of FALSE DAWN, but there are too many sextuple and septuple-crosses going on to count.

Poor Jake, who incessantly seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, complains more than once that he can't tell the good guys from the bad guys and the players without a scorecard. He isn't the only one struggling with this overwrought story, which sags dangerously low under the weight of its plot.

Levine's audacious attempt to write a good old-fashioned Cold War espionage tale doesn't quite make the grade. The reader becomes lost in this rococo tale of patriotism and betrayal; I imagined Levine writing with a flow chart at his side, and wished I'd had one to follow along (never a good wish in light fiction). Levine totally loses control of the story about two-thirds of the way through and it avalanches toward a denoument that leaves the reader with an unsatisfying sense of ends left loose.

Rather than drawing his characters in simple black and white, Levine chooses to paint in various shades of gray. Without clear right and wrong archetypes, in the end FALSE DAWN leaves the reader feeling just as dazed as Lassiter himself.

Still, Jake Lassiter remains a sympathetic and likeable character. Levine's barbed observations about life in the social hodgepodge that is South Florida always ring true, from the Exilados to the Marielitos to the Russians, the Blacks and the Jews; not to overlook the Finns in Lake Worth. As bizarre as it all seems, we locals know these people exist as Levine presents them.

FALSE DAWN, though by far not Levine's best work, remains more than the sum of its parts.

There's much better out there.......2005-06-09

This isn't a very good book. I had received it as a gift a few years ago and left it on the bookshelf for a while. I grabbed it on my way to the beach one day....should've left it gathering dust.

There are many better choices for legal thrillers (if that's what this is supposed to be) and if you are looking for a mystery set in Florida with a comic/satirical edge, pick up a Carl Hiaasen novel (Stormy Weather or Skinny Dip are my favorites).

Not Levine's best- but his average is better than most!.......2000-12-05

Paul Levine kicks butt. He's just plain a great author, and his characters and places stick in your mind.

This particular story isn't one of his best, but it's certainly a dang good read nonetheless. I strongly urge any fan of detective/lawyer/murder stories to run out and buy a couple of Levine's books, because not only will you enjoy the stories, and the hero, but you'll also find yourself laughing out loud from time to time.

And that's what books are supposed to do (in my opinion, anyway)- entertain you!

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False Dawn -- An indispensable addition to your study library

A Must Read

False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, And The Quest For A One-world Religion
Lee Penn
Manufacturer: Sophia Perennis et Universalis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Philosophy | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 159731000X

Book Description

The interfaith movement, which began with the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, has grown worldwide. Although this movement has been largely unknown to the public, it now provides a spiritual face for globalization, the economic and political forces leading us all from nationalism to "One World". The most ambitious organization in today's interfaith movement is the United Religions Initiative (URI), founded by William Swing, the Episcopal Bishop of California. Investigative reporter Lee Penn, a Catholic ex-Marxist, exhaustively documents the history and beliefs of the URI and its New Age and globalist allies, the vested interests that support these movements, and the direction they appear to be taking. The interfaith movement is no longer merely the province of a coterie of little-heeded religious idealists with grandiose visions. The URI's proponents have ranged from billionaire George Soros to President George W. Bush, from the far-right Rev. Sun Myung Moon to the liberal Catholic theologian Hans Küng, and from the Dalai Lama to the leaders of government-approved Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China. The interfaith movement, including the URI, is being promoted by globalist and New Age reformers who favor erosion of national sovereignty, marginalization of traditional religions, establishment of "global governance", and creation of a new, Earth-based "global spirituality" -- in effect, a one-world religion. Therefore, the URI and the interfaith movement are poised to become the spiritual foundation of the New World Order: the "new civilization" now proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. In The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, French metaphysician René Guénon spoke of the "anti-tradition" (the forces of materialism and secular humanism) finally giving way to the "counter-tradition" (the satanic inversion of true spirituality), leading to the regime of Antichrist. The "anti-tradition" weakens and dissolves traditional spiritualities, after which the "counter-tradition" sets up a counterfeit in their place. Since Guénon's time, as is well known, anti-traditional forces have greatly advanced worldwide. It is less well-known that counter-traditional movements have also made great strides, and now stand closer to the centers of global political and religious power than ever before. The "counter-tradition" is making inroads on the political and cultural Right, as much as it is doing on the Left. False Dawn painstakingly documents these trends, and speculates on their future development. In so doing, the author takes investigative reporting to the threshold of prophecy, and gives us a stunningly plausible picture of the global religious landscape of the 21st century.

Customer Reviews:

False Dawn -- An indispensable addition to your study library.......2006-04-04

Lee Penn has followed a significant networking "religious" member of the New Age community. He has painstakingly with great and verifiable detail followed up on what I like to call "the hidden dangers" of the New Age religious rainbow. That alleged rainbow is a 'dawn" of false and soon to be dashed utopian politico/spiritual "spiritual/messianic" hopes. United Religions is not the only religious front in the syncretistic battle to marginalize and ultimately eliminate followers of orthodox religious tenets. However, as Lee Penn so ably shows, it is politically powerful, very well funded and well-focused on its disturbing agenda. In addition to being highly readable, FALSE DAWN is indispensable as a reference. If you have limited library dollars to spend to ascertain the New Age religious landscape, this book will give the most bang for the buck. I heartily both Lee Penn for his painstaking research and his book as its fruit. It belongs on the shelf of every library and definitely of every truthseeker in this disturbing religious arena.

A Must Read.......2005-07-31

Thought provoking and deeply researched, False Dawn is a chilling look at our future if the Gadarine rush toward globalism is not averted. Opening with a lengthy explanation of the United Religions Initiative, Lee Penn then discusses and documents the horrifying implications of the New Age movement and the totalitarian intentions of its political allies and adherents. The Forward states, "Everyone, whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative, secular or devout, should heed its warning." This reader wholeheartedly agrees.

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Not Free SF Reader
Another good "Doomer" novel
A Tired Story
Excellent Book to curl up with
One of my favorite stories of all time!

False Dawn
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Manufacturer: Babbage Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1930235100

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

A really pretty ordinary post apocalyptic tale. A man and a woman
wander a nasty future wasteland in search of something that neither
they or the reader really seems to become sure of, in the end. There
are the usual mutants and other nasties of such a setting, but there
are plenty of better examples of the genre that you could try out
before getting tot his one.

Another good "Doomer" novel.......2004-08-26

Two people wander the earth after an unspecified apocalypse, struggling to survive in a world of complete anarchy. Cities are cesspools and troops of "pirates" reign unchecked. While not as good as Pat Frank's "Alas, Babylon" this is still an entertaining read, although definitely not for younger readers with its gritty violence and rape. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying as well with the fate of Thea and Evan left unresolved.

A Tired Story.......2000-08-25

As post-appocalyptic fiction goes, Yarbro's "False Dawn" is medicore at best. I felt as if I had entered the story

in the middle of a situation that I new nothing about. It felt like the story started somewhere in the middle and

that I missed out in some previous background history. The story from there deals with mutants, pillaging, rape, as the main characters of Thea and Evan search for a sanctuary. Thea and Evan move from situation to situation as they try to survive one encounter after the other. The appocalypse, though never really explained in any detail appears to be a series of events over a 30 year period, from evironmental disasters, to chemical spills, to limited nuclear war. As quickly as the story starts, does it mysteriously end, as if the author didn't really know how to end the story, or have some sort of conclusion for the characters. Like an elusive sanctuary, there is an elusive ending to Yarbro's story.

Excellent Book to curl up with.......2000-01-25

I read this book over 20 years ago. I still have the orginial hardcover book. Thea and Evan search for a place of haven,a safe harbor in a world gone wrong. The adventures are excellent and you really find yourself being drawn into their search and hoping they find a place to belong. I really wish another had been written to tell how they ended up.

One of my favorite stories of all time!.......1999-11-17

The story pulled me right inside and I was there next to Thea and Evan. Sometimes brutal, but that is probably what it would be like under such circumstances. I would hope to be as brave. I first read it 20 years ago. I've still got the original copy from then, and I don't save very many books!

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False Dawn: Recollections of the Amazon
Stephen Negron
Manufacturer: Chapel Hill Press, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

In False Dawn, first-time author Stephen Negron tells tales of a paradise that he laments is now slipping away. His journey, begun humbly as a laborer on a production-room floor, took him into the Amazon rain forests and through South American river and mountain regions during a time when such locales were still unspoiled. The real-life adventures in this book bring readers face-to-face with cannibals and head shrinkers, crocodiles and piranhas. But Negron also explains the inner workings of international commerce as it used to be and even gives a little blessing on the way. This book, a treat to read, explores the wide range of human possibilities.

False Dawn (Europe and the world in the Age of Expansion)

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False Dawn (Europe and the world in the Age of Expansion)
Raymond F. Betts
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0816607621

The Edith Wharton Omnibus : The Age of Innocence + Ethan Frome + Old New York + False Dawn + The Old Maid + The Spark + New Year's Day (GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS - THE WILLIAM MORRIS BINDING)

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The Edith Wharton Omnibus : The Age of Innocence + Ethan Frome + Old New York + False Dawn + The Old Maid + The Spark + New Year's Day (GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS - THE WILLIAM MORRIS BINDING)

Manufacturer: International Collectors Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The False Dawn European Imperialiam in the Nineteenth Century (Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion, Volume VI)

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The False Dawn European Imperialiam in the Nineteenth Century (Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion, Volume VI)

Manufacturer: University of Minnesota
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0816608520

A False Dawn: Volume 16: My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia (Interface Collection)

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Real Deal on the Raw Deal

A False Dawn: Volume 16: My Life as a Gypsy Woman in Slovakia (Interface Collection)
Ilona Lackova
Manufacturer: University Of Hertfordshire Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 190280600X

Customer Reviews:

Real Deal on the Raw Deal.......2001-12-13

Elena Lackova was born in the Northeastern region of Slovakia, a wild and ancient region settled long ago by Saxons and later, Hungarians. The Slovaks made up the peasantry and--as Lackova tells it--the Roma (Gypsies) were the underclass, at turns serving and being oppressed by every other social class/ethnic group. Lackova's voice is not as historical as it is personal and the book is not traditional history but rather oral history, historical events as lived by Lackova, her family and her settlement. The stories offer a series of impressions at turns shocking, humorous, joyful and sad. The reader can gleam a lot about Roma culture from Lackova's memories, about the struggles and setbacks but also the patience and humor of a much maligned people.

I spent the last two years in Peace Corps Slovakia and can best describe the situation of the 500,000 Slovak Roma as a kind of de facto apartheid. In Slovakia the "townships" are called settlements, and Lackova points out a fact scarcely recognized in modern Slovakia--that settlements were created in World War II through zoning laws inspired by the fascist-leaning Slovak government. Those familiar with South Africa will find other simularities, as well, including linguistic/educational oppression and routine police brutality.

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