Excellent book, 27 Sep 2008
I took this book on holiday with me and I feel a week by the pool is a perfect way to enjoy this book.

I really enjoyed the pace of this work. I felt it gave just the right amount of detail without dwelling on unimportant facts.

For me it was constantly enthralling. As a 23 year-old I certainly learnt a great deal. The detail is far greater than the BBC series that accompanied the book. My only doubt is whether had I lived through the times discussed I would have found it a little lightweight.

History at its best, 26 Sep 2008
I found this book a real pleasure to read. It is a penetrating and scholarly account of Britain's post-war history. It is brilliantly researched and beautifully written - the author has a good eye for the amusing bon mot - yet it deals in a balanced and sensible way with the key developments and personalities of the post-war era. If a better book has been published in the past year, then I have not come across it.

A future school textbook - and useful now., 29 Aug 2008
This book was updated for its paperback release and having read it carefully I suspect that many of the errors referred to by other reviewers were removed at that point. Having lived out of Britain for a sizeable chunk of my adult life, I found that I had much to learn from the pages - several large gaps in my knowledge were filled in.

I found it difficult to detect any signs of bias, and Andrew Marr's easy writing style made it a pleasure to read. This is almost as far removed from the dry history textbook that I wrestled with as a young student as it is possible to be. For anyone wanting a crash course on British modern history, this could not be bettered. Well researched and referenced, this deserves to become a standard.

I learnt all I should have at school, 26 Aug 2008
If I hadn't been taught some trendy (in the 1970's) History O Level course I may have learned some modern history and have subsequently been on catch up since!

This is the most readable book I have read covering the post war period and having seen the TV programme the writers voice is audible. It's a must read for a holiday (preferably with understanding people who don't want to talk very much as being interrupted reading won't go down too well)

A Superficial History of Modern Britain. , 12 Aug 2008
Andrew Marr's book is, if not a totally one-way glass facade, then certainly a pretty smeared window upon society that is clearly influenced by the naive, PC stupidity of those many refer to as the 'chattering classes'. Shallow and childlike. The professional intelligentsia, and their private armchair and public media imitators, will surely love it.

The Bible of IR!, 07 Jul 2008
Well, that's how we call it in our department as we always go back into this textbook whenever we need some guidance in our studies. It is the most useful textbook next to the Penguin Dictionary of IR. Recommended buy for all International Relations students out there.

Easy to understand, 06 Nov 2006
This collection is an easy to understand book yet it is full of detail. The onloine suport provided with the book provides each chapter with a revision guide and mock questions. The book covers a range of debates that are imporntant in international politics inlcuding theories on security, modern international order and diplomacy. It is a must for anyone beginning International relations.

IR study companion, 18 Apr 2006
Proved a valuable source of introduction and some further information whilst undertaking an MA in International Relations. Well written, easy to use would recommend to students in this field.



Excellent Intro to World History and politics, 21 Jan 2005
An excellent introduction to recent world history and international relations. Bayliss and Smith tackle the key themes in contemporary international relations with skill and a questioning prose which encourages readers to develop their own viewpoint. I first read this as an Undergraduate in International Relations but it will be of interest to anyone with questions about recent world history, the current international order or even those who enjoy Tom Clancy novels!

A first rate introduction, 29 Jul 2004
This has to be one of the most useful and helpful textbooks I have yet bought. As an introduction to international relations, it presents information in a clear, concise way making it easy to find what you're looking for. I thoroughly reccommend this book to first year students studying international relations or to anyone with an interst in the workings of the world around around them.

A necessary evil, 27 Apr 2008
Here it is, the cure for insomnia!

Given that one of the aims of the Life in the UK test is to test English literacy, you would think the official guide would be written in accessible English! Instead, we are handed this sloppy compilation of pointless statistics, useless abbreviations, dry facts with little context and advice that will make you slap your forehead and scowl: 'Well, OBVIOUSLY!'

A blue box pops up every so often asking the reader 'check that you understand...', but oftentimes what is listed has NOT been explained or even mentioned in what you've just finished reading. I defy anyone to explain to me the differences between the Council of Europe, the Council of the EU, the EU, the EC and the European Parliament at the best of times, but especially after reading the few paragraphs in this book!

Most sections have been plopped in at random, with lots of repitition. Then just when you get to the good bits...such as, what are my rights when dealing with the police...what are my rights as a consumer...and what IS Red Nose Day all about?? Well, by that point you no longer actually need to read any further because the test is only based on chapters 2-6!

But you'll be thankful to have read this, because trust your luck the test will quiz you on some arcane statistic - something that no other Briton would know, but which is somehow meant to be an indication that you are ready to assimilate into UK society.

It would have been far better if the book talked about cultural concepts and examples of British ideals, instead of repeating dull census figures and listing in detail when Welsh schoolchildren sit their exams. It's a shame the test does not cover any aspect of British history, literature or culture which would help someone to take pride in wanting to live here.

So read it, because you have to. Then get out there and LIVE IT!

Big and cumbersome, 10 Jan 2008
Although this is the official book, it is not the best buy. It is A4 size and therefore too big to pop into you bag so that you can read it on the bus or train. You only need to study chapters 2,3,4,5 and 6, but the book contains 9 chapters, 4 of which are not required to be read for the test. The book also contains no questions and answers. You would be far better off buying one of the smaller books. They contain the required study material and one of them even has a CD that contains Question and answer tests with hundreds of questions that you can practice to make sure that you are completely ready for the test.

Only buy if you need a UK passport or Indefinite Leave to Remain, 07 Oct 2007
The 'Life in the UK test' itself has audio. However, the Government has elected not to make available any official audio materials with this publication. That is is a real pity.

This book is the only offical study material for the 'Life in the UK test' and it is only sensible to review it in that context.

From April 2007 most categories of migrants to the UK will have to pass the 'Life in the UK' test if they want Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) or a UK Passport. For those seeking Indefinite Leave to Remain the requirement has, unusually for UK law, been applied retrospectively so that, for example, a spouse entering the UK as far back as November 2005 and applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in October 2007 is still required to have passed the test even though that was not a part of the process on initial entry to the UK. In all other areas this would be called 'changing the goal-posts'.

Questions for the 'Life in the UK test' are taken from Chapters 2 through to 6. If English is your first language you are likely to be able to read this title and go on to pass the test. If English is your second language then it is probably worth getting someone whose first language is English to study with and signing up for one of the online question services.

Written by the Home Office Life in the UK Advisory Group, the people who set the citizenship test, the book is, sadly, exactly what you might expect from this sort of committee. While it might be argued that the book contains lots of useful material about accessing help, unemployment and employment rights if you find yourself in those kinds of positions there are a great many better more user-friendly sources of advice and real help.

I firmly believe that many UK citizens would not be able to answer questions taken from this title. For example, I doubt if that many UK pasport holders know what year women first gained the right to vote or own property. The choice of language, while typical of government material, is very dry and not accessible even to those with very good English. I am afraid to say this book is very dull.

In research conducted on Facebook, press released 13 Jan 08, of 11,118 British people who sat a sample test based on the home office citizenship test only 1,585, or 14 per cent, achieved a pass score. Albeit that these people didn't study for the test but this reinforces the disconnection between the content of the title and the knowledge of Britizh citizens.

The Gunning Fog Index is a recognised measure of readability. The randomly chosen left hand column of Page 39 of the Life in UK publication comes out at a Gunning Fog Index of 11.33 using the free Wikipedia calculator, excluding the tables. Typical Fog Index Scores for other publications are: TV guides (6), The Bible (6), Mark Twain (6), Reader's Digest (8), Most popular novels (8-10), Time (10), Newsweek (10), Wall Street Journal (11), The Times (14), The Guardian (14), Academic Papers (15-20). Draw your own conclusions about how accessible the offical guidance has been made to those whose first language isn't English. Why is that?

If the government was serious about encouraging immigrants to learn about the UK they would have employed journalists from the Sun or the Mirror to write interesting useful relevant material. It is not an accident that these newspapers are written expertly to a reading age of about 8 years. According to the Audit Commission 75 per cent of UK residents have a reading age of between eight and eleven years and will be able to understand text containing short sentences with few words of three or more syllables.

Parts of the material are now out of date. For example the age at which you can buy cigarettes has now been raised from 16 to 18. Furthermore, the Northern Ireland Assembly is no longer suspended.

Finally, the title makes no mention of the other way that those seeking Indefinite Leave to Remain can meet the English Language Requirement. That is by reaching a minimum of ESOL Entry Level 1 in 'Speaking and Listening' (certificate required) and producing a letter from their place of study reporting 'progress' and stating that the course includes 'citizenship materials'.

Regrettably the ill conceived 'Life in the UK test' looks here to stay for the moment. Therefore, do buy this title because otherwise you won't have a clue what you are likely to be tested on. Good luck with the test (currently £34) - you can take it as many times as you have to.


Not as bad as the press might make you think, 06 Oct 2007
This book certainly contains mistakes, both grammatical and factual, but it does actually collate some useful information about the UK. At times it does tie itself in knots as it tries to fit in what is clearly a politically motivated syllabus, as well as making some aspects of life in the UK unnecessarily complicated. For example, there is a section that attempts to explain the role of the Lord Chancellor in the context of the situation as it was at the beginning of 2007. A much clearer explanation would have been possible simply by explaining the intention of the changes and the new role of the Minister of Justice. The figures also get confusing: there are far too many to absorb, and many could have been omitted or summarised (for example, is it necessary to know that 0.2 million people or 0.4% of the population categorise themselves as "other asian" according to the 2001 census?). Recent changes in legislation are not included, so there are errors concerning maternity entitlement and the laws pertaining to smoking. The role of government is overemphasised, presumably as the book was written by the government, and the whole of the chapter 4 is dedicated to it. There are some good practical chapters, although certain parts dip in rather than explain fully: for example, expect to know that there are such things as class 2 and class 4 NICs, but not precisely what they are (for those that do not know, they are to do with taxation for the self-employed). So all in all a mixed bag. It is embarrassing that the government force people to learn some of this information; it is old fashioned history with dates, fact, figures and years but next to no historical background.

For those taking the Life in the UK test, note that the book contains no sample questions whatsoever. The book advises you to think carefully about buying complementary study guides, but you may find it more reassuring to buy a guide with some sample questions. It is probably best to buy this book in any case, as it is the official guide, and compared to the other costs associated with gaining residency or citizenship, it is very good value.


Warning - You'll need perfect eyesight for this book!, 03 Oct 2007
I'm absolutely disgusted that a book which is a legal requirement to study for many people uses such a ridiculous font and colour scheme. The font is very narrow and pale grey colour making it appear very blurry to me. On top of that it contains sections with such gems of common sense as "white text on a pale grey background on glossy paper" and "spidery thin white text on a powerful bold blue backgroung on the same glossy paper". This is no doubt attempting to be all trendy and modern and Web2.0 style, but this is hardly the place for such things. There is also a "large print" version which is not stocked by Amazon. I have asked the publisher for a sample of it and hope it will be more sensible.

Yuck, 03 Oct 2008
Even though it was valuable for me to learn what is really going on, I read this book with a mixture of revulsion and horror. And more information keeps showing up - only recently, "New Scientist" (23 July 2008) carried an article stating that, for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. This was not because countries with worsening TB attract more IMF attention since the TB rates had been falling, or at least steady, before receiving IMF "help".



Complex, Compelling, Horrifying, an Important Book, 29 Sep 2008
"The Shock Doctrine" is a thoroughly good read in which Naomi Klein sets out to illustrate the spread of the economic doctrine of the late economist Milton Friedman and of the Chicago School of Economics; to illustrate the use of force (backed by U.S government in a number of cases) by right-wing governments and exploitation of natural disaster and conflict to push through unpopular economic reforms (based on Friedman's doctrine), and how such governments are putting big business first to line their own pockets and those of the corporate sector, leaving the public sector to deteriorate and their nation to grow poorer and poorer.

The book opens with an introduction of Milton Friedman's view of disaster as an opportunity for the practice of free-market economics; how he longed for the chance to test out his theories and how he finally got the chance. Klein discusses research into the effects of psychological shock and then moves onto how this research was then used and abused by the CIA for interrogation purposes. We are then cited a number of case studies in which right-wing governments have used repressive measures to pursue with their economic policies, and the concept of 'planned misery' is developed.

It is when Klein turns onto the subject of shock therapy in the U.S., of the homeland security industry and U.S. management of Iraq vis-a-vis shock therapy becomes slightly inconsistent, something she appears to seek a remedy for, in the case of the latter, with the concept of "pre-emptive shock". This inconsistency itself, however, isn't particularly important because the message is clear enough: with all the back-scratching and dirty dealing going on under Bush, the corporate world has never had it so good.

The penultimate chapter looks at how conflict has benefited the Israeli economy and stock markets, and the final chapter is Klein's hope-inspiring conclusion is that capitalism is finally coming to its end as left-wing governments turn their backs on the U.S and on free-market economics ideas and practices, etc.

"The Shock Doctrine" is a complex book, but Klein's style of writing is ever-refreshing and there's not a dull word in the text, one of the great things about her work. She brilliantly portrays why right-wing big government and big business can be so dangerous. It's a relief to know both have a thorn in its side like Naomi Klein. This is an important book, one not to be missed. I'd definitely recommend it.

Scandal: Sometimes people profit when bad things happen. Film at eleven!, 21 Sep 2008
First, disclosure: I enjoyed No Logo a great deal, it informed a lot of the way I think about corporations and changed the way I bought clothes. I read the Guardian when I get a chance, and am addicted to the Daily Show. So please don't think that my review is based on having a radically different philosophy to Ms Klein.

I didn't like this book. The main thrust of the book is that there are theorists who believe that you can only change things when a big shock to the system happens; an earthquake, 9/11, Katrina, etc. In the aftermath the populace are too shocked and confused to notice free marketers running in to privatize public assets like security or schools. Now in individual cases, I agree this is something to keep an eye on, particularly with companys like Blackwater. But where the author loses me is in tying this together with a history of torture methods of the CIA around electroshock. I didn't really see the relevance of the comparison and it's a thread that weaves its way through the book. There's also a hint of the paranoia seen in conspiracy theorists, throughout, and here is my fundamental problem with that: most people are not evil. They go about their business, try to be good people, and that's that. If a corporation sees an opportunity to make money it's hardly surprising they will do, it doesn't always need to be interepreted as part of an agenda. Sometimes it's just business.

Personally I found the entire topic much less relevant to me than No Logo; what am I supposed to do about the issues explored here other than gripe about them to other lefties to show off how well read I am? At 550 pages this could also have done with being a lot more concise. Overall I'm disappointed that I didn't like this more.

The second colonial pillage and the essence of dehumanization, 30 Aug 2008
Naomi Klein unveils in this hard-hitting book (naming names) extremely clearly the economic utopia and the shameful realities resulting from the neo-liberal policies of the Chicago School of Economics, also called `The Washington Consensus'.

What
Its defenders claim that the free market is a perfect scientific system, in which individuals acting on their own self-interested desire, create the maximum benefit for all.
But, as no country or city wanted to implement deliberately their policies, its powerful fundamentalist defenders, together with their long arm, the IMF, used and created shocks (wars, military coups, political upheavals, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, epidemics, energy and resource shortages) to force a second shock of radical social and economic engineering on traumatized populations.

Where
Naomi Klein analyzes brilliantly a long list of victims of the shock doctrine of which the most important are: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Iraq, Russia, Indonesia, Poland, South-Africa, former Yugoslavia and its republics, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Thailand, New Or leans and the US as a whole.

How
This radical economic cure consisted intentionally in eliminating the public sphere, in giving total freedom to private interests and in providing only skeletal social spending. Sometimes with the help of the IMF as their obedient mediator, State and corporate wealth was cut into pieces and sold of for a trifle in debased currencies to private, mostly foreign, interests: airlines, phone and water systems, oilfields, all kind of corporations and factories (sometimes direct competitors), mineral deposits or farmlands.

Private bonanza, public hell
Those policies created a formidable bonanza for transnational corporations, oligarchs and investment banks.
For the majority of the population, the results were less than bleak, rather hellish:
Not democracy, but dictatorship
Not peace, but war, tortures or simply assassinations (the essence of dehumanizing)
Not freedom for the populations, but for the corporations
Not hiring, but mass unemployment (putting people in a starvation position)
Not civil liberties, but aggressive surveillance
Not clean commerce, but rampant corruption
Not broadly based wealth, but turning 25 to 60 % of the population into a permanent underclass
Not clean air and water, but environmental degradation

US
In the US, the core of the governmental tasks (the military, the police, fire departments, power, covert intelligence, disease control, public schools) was subcontracted to private interests.

Future
But the tide is turning against disaster capitalism. The IMF is nearly out of business.
Democratic socialism, always regarded by those in power as a greater threat than totalitarian communism, is clearly on the march, especially in South-America.

Naomi Klein's formidable book is a must read for all those who want to understand the world we live in.


What's really going on, 29 Aug 2008
Read and weep - Klein exposes the real power behind the world throne and the shoddy, extraordinary greed of the few who are happy to make money from the world's poor. Oh actually - BY making the rest of the world poor. The compelling story of how Milton Friedman's Chicago Boys realised that catastrophe gave them a vital window of opportunity in which to snatch and grab, in countries worldwide, starting with some "experiments" in Latin America. It's no news to economists, but it is to the rest of us - governments in "transition", such as Poland under Solidarity, were forced to seek help from the World Bank and IMF, only to be told that essential loans came with unbearable hardship and economic ruin for their citizens. Forced privatisations of state companies, all price controls lifted, so that essentials like bread and milk became unaffordable, and massive layoffs/unemployment. But the deal was always: accept our terms, or forget about securing loans - which these countries (like S.Africa, like Russia) needed to deal with the inherited debts of previous dictatorships. A rock and a hard place indeed. And guess who was controlling the IMF? And making all the money from buying up ex-state companies, only to sell them on for huge profit, or close them down so there'd be no competition for the American companies coming in? And that's before Klein even gets to discussing Iraq. Essential reading. Especially in the Big Brother age, when politicians would like us all to be looking the other way.

Part memoir, part manifesto, the political creed of an optimist, 14 Sep 2008
This is the first book by an aspirant politician, indeed the first political manifesto, (for that is what it is) that I have read cover to cover. (Perhaps, it occurs to me, I should read some of the works by serving British politicians, too, and not just rely on commentaries by journalists?) I bought the book the day after Barack Obama slipped up re-using the "lipstick on a pig" cliché, when, for the first time, McCain and Palin seemed to have achieved a significant lead in the polls.

Obama wrote this book to update his life story, including how he came to be elected senator for Illinois (he completed his first book "Dreams of my father" some ten years earlier), to offer an analysis of how modern American political life has become so polarised, but above all to state his personal and political principles. It would be easy to be cynical: his principles turn out to offer something to everyone, but this is the prerogative and the stategy of the political centrist. Economically, his liberalism demonstrates why Milton Friedman and others were forced to rebrand themselves as libertarians. He seems well versed in the pros and cons of state intervention, and clearly believes in the value of Keynsian-style state intervention, lamenting the breakdown of the New Deal consensus in the 1970s and 1980s. He does, however, go on record as recognising some of the limits of government. While he offers few concrete proposals as to what should be done, the reader does get the impression that this is a man who is aware of major issues and has thought them through in depth. Sadly but unsurprisingly he has not come up with any new solution to the problem that globalisation presents to American manufacturing and the American working class.

I was left with the impression that Barack Obama is a man of principle, but not one whose principles lead him to try to impose them on others. He recognises, for example, the abortion debate as being one of the most polarising in the US, and lays out his own pro-choice view very carefully, doing his best to respect the "social conservatives" who oppose his view. In one recollection he refers to how a pro-life doctor (but potential Democrat voter) who objected to Obama's implicit inclusion of him within the category of "right wing ideologues who wish to take away a woman's right to choose", and how, having thought the matter through, he changed this statement on his web site to a less confrontational one. Obama sketches out (but no more than sketches) a personal journey that led to his being baptised as an adult (his mother was not an adherent of institutionalised religion, but rather of spiritualist, new age inclinations). Cynically, perhaps, I was reminded of an oft-repeated statement that it would be impossible for an atheist to be elected to high office in the US. Obama believes in the separation of church and state, in accordance with the US Constitution; I do too, and perhaps therefore the privacy of his beliefs, whatever they actually are, should be respected.

Obama devotes a whole chapter to Race, although it is inevitably a backdrop to the whole book. He is of course aware that it is the colour of his skin that has given him the early prominence he has achieved. He tells us of his Kenyan cousins, the mainstream African American family of his wife Michelle, his Indonesian step-father and his white mother's family and mentions ethnic Chinese in-laws. He quietly implies that his background makes him both the epitome of the American dream and someone uniquely placed to deal with the domestic and international problems that confront the US, and to represent and to lead a multi-ethnic America. Not everyone is going to be convinced by that argument: he is certainly not guaranteed to succeed and, to be fair, he does not suggest that others with a less heterogeneous background could not succeed. His analysis of the condition of black America seems balanced - much progress made, but much more still to be made. My only concern for the US is that the programmes that he seems inclined to follow would involve a great deal more state expenditure. It is a shame that he has not put more effort into learning Spanish, acknowledging as he does the burgeoning Latino population of the US.

This is an excellent book. As a commentary on politics in the US over the past 30 years it is easy to read precisely because it is not done to any real depth. As a memoir by someone who is, at the very least, a remarkable man from a very unusual background it is uplifting. Whichever way we might prefer to see the Americans vote, I would hope that all would think it a loss to his country and the world if 2008 turns out to have been the high point in Obama's career. I was convinced that Obama is more than just an excellent public speaker or a politician riding high because of the novelty of his background. He is less beholden to interest groups than most contenders for the presidency. The USA could do a lot worse than bet on Barack Obama for the next 4 years - and I say that as someone who sees a good man in John McCain, too, (although I cannot but feel that he would have made a better president 8 years ago). As we enter the last 8 weeks of the US elections, this is the time to read "Audacity of Hope" if you have not yet done so.


Inspiring, 05 Sep 2008
I don't really know what I was expecting when I started to read this book, but what I wasn't expecting was a genuinely interesting, even-handed and thoughtful portrayal of the American democratic system. While I have obviously seem Obama on the Teevee, I can't say that he ever really energised me in the same way he did so many others. However, upon finishing this book I started to understand a bit more why people find his message so resonant. He writes with compassion and respect for differing opinions, and with the obvious intelligence he displays in speeches and interviews.

It's a refreshing book - I don't know if it's an honest book, because I don't know the man in person - but it certainly comes across as honest. It's well worth reading no matter your views on Obama himself or his political positions - even those at opposite ends of the spectrum should find his gentle humanity somewhat inspiring.

Good, but could be better; much too much rhetoric, 26 Aug 2008
Barack Obama clearly has a lot to say about vision, but when it comes down to it, not enough reality to talk about. The first few chapters about this book are about visions, values, morals, goals, beliefs, ideals, principles and expectations, and then go on to talk more about visions, values, morals, goals, beliefs, ideals, principles and expectations but around a different theme. This type of talk no doubt works brilliantly as a passionate speech, but reading at this level of detail gets tedious pretty quickly. Fortunately, in between all that there are stories to tell that embellish points effectively and there are other points of reference, but compared to other political books I have read, this one took much longer to make its points.

All in all, still worth reading, but be prepared to slog through some of this!

Boring but informative, 18 Jul 2008
I wanted to read the book published by the presidential candidate who I plan on voting for, so I figured that I would buy this book.

While I admit that it reinforces my feeling that Obama will provide for the US and the world much better than McCain, I have to say that it is quite a boring book....difficult to continue reading after a few pages.

Definitely interesting if you have no idea what Obama is about, but dont expect any fireworks!

He writes beautifully but has to nothing to say, 10 Jun 2008
The coming general election campaign might be a better way of finding out what Barack Obama actually thinks than reading this book.

For a politician, this is a very open and well written book on a number of subjects that matter to us all (in the US or abroad). Chapter by chapter, Obama mixes historical detail, life stories and political issues to try and present an explanation of how we have come to this point in time with sometimes such savage disagreements over how to proceed.

It's at that point I found the book disatisfying. Barack Obama doesn't commit to any policy ideas that really go beyond Democrat platitude: healthcare is good, crime is bad, etc. I can understand that he needed to keep some solid statements back prior to the election (or have them lobbed back at him negatively by Clinton or McCain) but it just leaves a final feeling of vagueness in a book that was building towards inspiring.