When I was reading The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, I shared a large number of snippets from the book and sang its praises. I had hoped to do the same with Matt Taibbi's Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Mind you, Taibbi's book is just as fantastic as Klein's -- I am learning a tremendous amount and it is a great read. The difference is that Taibbi's subject matter is more complex and I have found it difficult to extract a paragraph here or there that makes enough sense standing alone without the preceding paragraphs or pages as a backdrop.
Taibbi is doing his best to put in layman's terms all the frauds and quasi-legal chicanery that has bedeviled our economy for the past decade or so. I have learned about derivatives, tranches, FICO scores and CDOs. I figure I will need to read this wonderful book at least twice before I truly understand all this specific economic lingo!
Another major difference has to do with the writing styles of Klein and Taibbi. Klein's book is more scholarly, in tone, though I don't wish to make it sound like it is difficult to read. Taibbi, on the other hand, takes a gonzo journalism approach with the exception that it is obviously well-researched. Taibbi's text is more gritty and he employs a lot of what we could say is "colorful" language.
I do plan to pull out a few quotes from Taibbi's book to share with you; they simply won't be as numerous as with Klein's book. I strongly recommend that readers who are interested in contemporary economic and political history get your hands on both of these fine books.
Mind you, Taibbi's book is just as fantastic as Klein's -- I am learning a tremendous amount and it is a great read. The difference is that Taibbi's subject matter is more complex and I have found it difficult to extract a paragraph here or there that makes enough sense standing alone without the preceding paragraphs or pages as a backdrop.
Taibbi is doing his best to put in layman's terms all the frauds and quasi-legal chicanery that has bedeviled our economy for the past decade or so. I have learned about derivatives, tranches, FICO scores and CDOs. I figure I will need to read this wonderful book at least twice before I truly understand all this specific economic lingo!
Another major difference has to do with the writing styles of Klein and Taibbi. Klein's book is more scholarly, in tone, though I don't wish to make it sound like it is difficult to read. Taibbi, on the other hand, takes a gonzo journalism approach with the exception that it is obviously well-researched. Taibbi's text is more gritty and he employs a lot of what we could say is "colorful" language.
I do plan to pull out a few quotes from Taibbi's book to share with you; they simply won't be as numerous as with Klein's book. I strongly recommend that readers who are interested in contemporary economic and political history get your hands on both of these fine books.
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