C*nts Are Still Running The World - No Logo by Naomi Klein

In many ways this is a left wing equivalent of all those right wing columnists who tell us doomsday is nigh. The difference here is that Klein actually uses thorough research to back herself up rather than base her opinion on isolated incidents. As a result it's a fairly depressing overall read, from this you'd think that the corporate drive for profit during the 1990s were completely undermining not only Western society, but also the poorer parts of the globe. Which, to an extent they are. Klein charts how large corporations are systematically divesting themselves of their base earthbound corporeal form (in terms of jobs and goods) and are attempting to ascend to a higher corporate plane, where all they have and sell is their own identity. Even if you disagree with Klein's ideological position it's a fascinating account of how corporations and society are changing. If it has a major flaw it's that it seems to be hankering after a utopian past, where corporations and branding were less pervasive. Despite that, Klein seems to want this to be an intelligent call to arms, pointing out the problems of rampant capitalism and how, even at an individual level, it can be checked.Like the opening quote of the book, on the surface No Logo is simply a document of corporate practice. But undeneath that it's an angry polemic positively seething with anger at the sweatshops, job cuts and invasive advertising. It might be overly reductive to say this, but No Logo is an anti-corporate wake up call whose theme is even more relevant today, even if some of the details aren't.