Barnet, Richard J. and Cavanagh, John. Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster (Touchstone), 1994. 480 pages.

Richard Barnet and John Cavanagh are veterans of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, a left-of-center think tank, and both specialize in the politics, economics, and culture of transnational corporations. A 1974 book co-authored by Barnet (Global Reach) is more scholarly, while this one is better described as a series of portraits. About half of this book, intermingled with the other half, provides a valuable look at five transnationals and some of the moguls behind them: Bertelsmann, Citibank, Ford, Philip Morris, and Sony. This snapshot from above is based on interviews with some of the CEOs in addition to research.

The other half of the book is all over the map, which is perhaps appropriate for a book about globalization. It consists mainly of anecdotes that illustrate emerging trends in culture, consumerism, and labor. In the final chapters, this is contrasted with the frantic speculation that is now typical of transnational financial markets. The total impression is of a huge, unstable Disneyland with plenty of waste, and lots of people standing in line but not yet suffering. A third book is needed that depicts the poverty and hunger in the Third World, in the shantytowns just beneath those billboards for Marlboro and Coca-Cola.
ISBN 0-684-80027-6

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