
The People's Republic of Walmart
How the World's Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Eric Jason Martin
About this listen
Since the demise of the USSR, the mantle of the largest planned economies in the world has been taken up by the likes of Walmart, Amazon, and other multinational corporations.
For the left and the right, major multinational companies are held up as the ultimate expressions of free-market capitalism. Their remarkable success appears to vindicate the old idea that modern society is too complex to be subjected to a plan. And yet, as Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski argue, much of the economy of the West is centrally planned at present. Not only is planning on vast scales possible, we already have it and it works. The real question is whether planning can be democratic. Can it be transformed to work for us?
An engaging, polemical romp through economic theory, computational complexity, and the history of planning, The People's Republic of Walmart revives the conversation about how society can extend democratic decision-making to all economic matters. With the advances in information technology in recent decades and the emergence of globe-straddling collective enterprises, democratic planning in the interest of all humanity is more important and closer to attainment than ever before.
©2019 Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Blackshirts and Reds
- Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark. Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.
-
-
couldn't believe this was on audible
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Shock Doctrine
- The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution.
-
-
If It's Bad for Humanity, It's Good for Business
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-29-07
By: Naomi Klein
-
State and Revolution
- By: Vladimir Ilich Lenin
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
State and Revolution (1917) describes the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution. It describes the inherent nature of the state as a tool for class oppression, a creation born of one social class' desire to control all other social classes. Whether a dictatorship or a democracy, the state remains in the control of the ruling class.
-
-
Revolution, Not Reform
- By Earth Lover on 07-24-19
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
-
The Jakarta Method
- Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.
-
-
Great book, but the narration has serious flaws
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 08-03-20
By: Vincent Bevins
-
Manufacturing Consent
- The Political Economy of the Mass Media
- By: Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
-
-
Eye opening
- By EFM on 03-24-18
By: Edward S. Herman, and others
-
Blackshirts and Reds
- Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark. Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.
-
-
couldn't believe this was on audible
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Shock Doctrine
- The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution.
-
-
If It's Bad for Humanity, It's Good for Business
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-29-07
By: Naomi Klein
-
State and Revolution
- By: Vladimir Ilich Lenin
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
State and Revolution (1917) describes the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution. It describes the inherent nature of the state as a tool for class oppression, a creation born of one social class' desire to control all other social classes. Whether a dictatorship or a democracy, the state remains in the control of the ruling class.
-
-
Revolution, Not Reform
- By Earth Lover on 07-24-19
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
-
The Jakarta Method
- Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.
-
-
Great book, but the narration has serious flaws
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 08-03-20
By: Vincent Bevins
-
Manufacturing Consent
- The Political Economy of the Mass Media
- By: Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
-
-
Eye opening
- By EFM on 03-24-18
By: Edward S. Herman, and others
-
Bullshit Jobs
- A Theory
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs”. It went viral. After a million online views in 17 different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.
-
-
Incredibly disappointing...
- By Jordan Burton on 12-21-18
By: David Graeber
-
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
- A People's History of Ancient Rome
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome through the eyes of its rich nobility - the one percent of the population who controlled 99 percent of the empire's wealth. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Michael Parenti recounts this period, spanning the years 100 to 33 BC, from the perspective of the Roman people. In doing so, he presents a provocative, trenchantly researched narrative of popular resistance against a powerful elite.
-
-
another side to Roman history
- By Darksnovia on 04-16-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
- By: Walter Rodney, Angela Y. Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the West and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the repercussions of European colonialism in Africa remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
-
-
A Superb must read for everyone
- By Joy on 04-16-19
By: Walter Rodney, and others
-
Why Marx Was Right
- 2nd Edition
- By: Terry Eagleton
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this combative, controversial book, Terry Eagleton takes issue with the prejudice that Marxism is dead and done with. Taking 10 of the most common objections to Marxism - that it leads to political tyranny, that it reduces everything to the economic, that it is a form of historical determinism, and so on - he demonstrates in each case what a woeful travesty of Marx's own thought these assumptions are.
-
-
A Brilliant Narrator
- By Stephen on 08-11-18
By: Terry Eagleton
-
A Brief History of Neoliberalism
- By: David Harvey
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neoliberalism - the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action - has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage.
-
-
Monotone reader
- By Elizabeth on 09-28-17
By: David Harvey
-
On Anarchism
- By: Noam Chomsky, Nathan Schneider - introduction
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Anarchism provides the reasoning behind Noam Chomsky's fearless lifelong questioning of the legitimacy of entrenched power. In these essays, Chomsky redeems one of the most maligned ideologies, anarchism, and places it at the foundation of his political thinking. Chomsky's anarchism is distinctly optimistic and egalitarian. Moreover, it is a living, evolving tradition that is situated in a historical lineage; Chomsky's anarchism emphasizes the power of collective, rather than individualist, action.
-
-
Hit and Miss
- By Jacob King on 06-18-14
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
Washington Bullets
- A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations
- By: Vijay Prashad
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Washington Bullets is written in the best traditions of Marxist journalism and history-writing. It is a book of fluent stories, full of detail about US imperialism, but never letting the minutiae obscure the larger political point. It is a book that could easily have been a song of despair - a lament of lost causes; it is, after all, a roll call of butchers and assassins; of plots against people's movements and governments; of the assassinations of socialists, Marxists, communists all over the Third World by the country where liberty is a statue.
-
-
The US empire needs to fall
- By Savannah Boyd on 04-28-24
By: Vijay Prashad
-
Reform or Revolution
- By: Rosa Luxemburg
- Narrated by: Anne Makoto
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reform or Revolution, also titled Social Reform or Revolution?, is an 1899 pamphlet by Polish-German Marxist theorist Rosa Luxemburg, in which she argues that trade unions, reformist political parties, and the expansion of social democracy could not create a socialist society as Eduard Bernstein, among others, argued. She contends from a historical materialist perspective that capitalism is economically unsustainable and will eventually collapse and that a revolution is necessary to transform capitalism into socialism.
-
-
Years old arguments put to bed.
- By Cody on 08-14-20
By: Rosa Luxemburg
-
Bad Samaritans
- The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
- By: Ha-Joon Chang
- Narrated by: Jim Bond
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With irreverent wit, an engagingly personal style, and a battery of real-life examples, Ha-Joon Chang blasts holes in the "World Is Flat" orthodoxy of Thomas Friedman and other neo-liberal economists who argue that only unfettered capitalism and wide-open international trade can lift struggling nations out of poverty.
-
-
Not Convinced!
- By Oldtimer on 11-20-08
By: Ha-Joon Chang
-
Democracy at Work
- A Cure for Capitalism
- By: Richard D. Wolff
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Capitalism as a system has spawned deepening economic crisis alongside its bought-and-paid-for political establishment. Neither serves the needs of our society. Whether it is secure, well-paid, and meaningful jobs or a sustainable relationship with the natural environment that we depend on, our society is not delivering the results people need and deserve.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Brandon on 03-07-19
By: Richard D. Wolff
-
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
- By: Friedrich Engels
- Narrated by: George Doyle
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" (1883), Friedrich Engels explains that Marxism is scientific socialism. Engels claims that whereas utopian socialism is idealist, reflects the personal opinions of the authors and claims that society can be adapted based on these opinions, scientific socialism derives itself from reality. It focuses on the materialist conception of history, which is based on an analysis over history, and concludes that communism naturally follows capitalism.
-
-
Essential Text
- By Lisa on 07-24-18
By: Friedrich Engels
-
Dark Future
- Uncovering the Great Reset's Terrifying Next Phase (The Great Reset Series)
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At important meetings in 2021 and 2022, powerful leaders from government, finance, media, and business who support the World Economic Forum’s plan for a Great Reset of capitalism launched a new “call to action” titled the “Great Narrative.” The Great Narrative campaign seeks to use the decay of traditional values throughout the West and new and future advancements in technology—including in the areas of artificial intelligence, automation, the metaverse, robotics, and more—to seize control of economies and societies in North America and Europe.
-
-
Very good
- By Yup on 07-23-23
By: Glenn Beck, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Fully Automated Luxury Communism
- By: Aaron Bastani
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A different kind of politics for a new kind of society - beyond work, scarcity, and capitalism.
-
-
Way better than I thought
- By David Larson on 12-08-20
By: Aaron Bastani
-
Blackshirts and Reds
- Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark. Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.
-
-
couldn't believe this was on audible
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Reactionary Mind
- Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump
- By: Corey Robin
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Reactionary Mind, Robin traces conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution. He argues that the right was inspired, and is still united, by its hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market; others oppose it. Some criticize the state; others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality - while simultaneously making populist appeals to the masses.
-
-
This is a brilliant book.
- By Will2Combat on 04-10-19
By: Corey Robin
-
The Wal-Mart Effect
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on unprecedented interviews with former Wal-Mart executives and a wealth of staggering data�including facts such as this: Americans spend $36 million an hour at Wal-Mart stores, this text is an intimate look at a business that is dramatically reshaping the American economy.
-
-
Excellent, Balanced View
- By Michael on 05-01-06
By: Charles Fishman
-
The Origin of Capitalism
- A Longer View
- By: Ellen Meiksins Wood
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellen Meiksins Wood offers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.
-
-
incredibly dence.
- By Jake Fahey on 10-22-21
-
The Sickness Is the System
- When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself
- By: Richard D. Wolff
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The coronavirus pandemic, the deepening economic crash, dangerously divisive political responses, and exploding social tensions have thrown an already declining American capitalist system into a tailspin. The consequences of these mounting and intertwined crises will shape our future. In this unique collection of over 50 essays, The Sickness Is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself, Richard D. Wolff argues clearly that "returning to normal" no longer responds adequately to the accumulated problems of US capitalism.
By: Richard D. Wolff
-
Fully Automated Luxury Communism
- By: Aaron Bastani
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A different kind of politics for a new kind of society - beyond work, scarcity, and capitalism.
-
-
Way better than I thought
- By David Larson on 12-08-20
By: Aaron Bastani
-
Blackshirts and Reds
- Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark. Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.
-
-
couldn't believe this was on audible
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Reactionary Mind
- Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump
- By: Corey Robin
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Reactionary Mind, Robin traces conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution. He argues that the right was inspired, and is still united, by its hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market; others oppose it. Some criticize the state; others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality - while simultaneously making populist appeals to the masses.
-
-
This is a brilliant book.
- By Will2Combat on 04-10-19
By: Corey Robin
-
The Wal-Mart Effect
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on unprecedented interviews with former Wal-Mart executives and a wealth of staggering data�including facts such as this: Americans spend $36 million an hour at Wal-Mart stores, this text is an intimate look at a business that is dramatically reshaping the American economy.
-
-
Excellent, Balanced View
- By Michael on 05-01-06
By: Charles Fishman
-
The Origin of Capitalism
- A Longer View
- By: Ellen Meiksins Wood
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellen Meiksins Wood offers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.
-
-
incredibly dence.
- By Jake Fahey on 10-22-21
-
The Sickness Is the System
- When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself
- By: Richard D. Wolff
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The coronavirus pandemic, the deepening economic crash, dangerously divisive political responses, and exploding social tensions have thrown an already declining American capitalist system into a tailspin. The consequences of these mounting and intertwined crises will shape our future. In this unique collection of over 50 essays, The Sickness Is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself, Richard D. Wolff argues clearly that "returning to normal" no longer responds adequately to the accumulated problems of US capitalism.
By: Richard D. Wolff
-
The Problem with Work
- Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries
- By: Kathi Weeks
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Problem with Work, Kathi Weeks boldly challenges the presupposition that work, or waged labor, is inherently a social and political good. Taking up Marxist and feminist critiques, Weeks proposes a postwork society that would allow people to be productive and creative rather than relentlessly bound to the employment relation.
-
-
Maybe a good intro, but not much new here.
- By N. Pinkston on 09-11-21
By: Kathi Weeks
-
Necropolitics
- By: Achille Mbembe, Steven Corcoran - translator
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Necropolitics, Achille Mbembe, a leader in the new wave of francophone critical theory, theorizes the genealogy of the contemporary world, a world plagued by ever-increasing inequality, militarization, enmity, and terror as well as by a resurgence of racist, fascist, and nationalist forces determined to exclude and kill. He outlines how democracy has begun to embrace its dark side - what he calls its "nocturnal body" - which is based on the desires, fears, affects, relations, and violence that drove colonialism.
-
-
Forget critical race theory
- By Ian on 01-08-23
By: Achille Mbembe, and others
-
The Culture of Narcissism
- American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations
- By: Christopher Lasch
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When The Culture of Narcissism was first published, it was clear that Christopher Lasch had identified something important: what was happening to American society in the wake of the decline of the family over the last century. The book quickly became a best seller.
-
-
Analysis from the 1970's good bad and ugly.
- By Carl A. Gallozzi on 02-24-20
-
Globalists
- The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism
- By: Quinn Slobodian
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first intellectual history of neoliberal globalism, author Quinn Slobodian follows a group of thinkers from the ashes of the Habsburg Empire to the creation of the World Trade Organization to show that neoliberalism emerged less to shrink government and abolish regulations than to redeploy them at a global level.
-
-
Tracing Neoliberalism to Its European Origins
- By Will Szal on 06-25-19
By: Quinn Slobodian
-
What Kind of Creatures Are We?
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Noam Chomsky is widely known and deeply admired for being the founder of modern linguistics, one of the founders of the field of cognitive science, and perhaps the most avidly read political theorist and commentator of our time. In these lectures, he presents a lifetime of philosophical reflection on all three of these areas of research to which he has contributed for over half a century.
-
-
yeah good job "John Pruden"
- By heheboi on 01-27-23
By: Noam Chomsky
-
Winner Sells All
- Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets
- By: Jason Del Rey
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, Walmart and Amazon operated in separate spheres—one a massive brick-and-mortar retailer, the other an online giant. But in 2016, Walmart aggressively moved into the world of e-commerce, while Amazon made big bets in physical retail. The resulting rivalry is a bare-knuckle power struggle as each titan tries to outmaneuver the other to become the biggest omnichannel retailer in the world. As the two megacorporations have consolidated power, troubling consequences have also emerged.
-
-
Inside Corporate Battles: Winner Sells All
- By Anonymous User on 07-19-23
By: Jason Del Rey
-
Walmart
- Diary of an Associate
- By: Hugo Meunier
- Narrated by: Lee Smart
- Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2012, journalist Hugo Meunier went undercover as a Walmart employee for three months in St. Leonard, Quebec, just north of Montreal. In great detail, Meunier charts the daily life of an impoverished Walmart worker, referring to his shifts at the box store giant as "somewhere between the army and Walt Disney". Each shift began with a daily chant before bowing to customer demands and the constant pressure to sell.
By: Hugo Meunier
-
The Story of Work
- A New History of Humankind
- By: Jan Lucassen
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering over 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs. Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity's busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state.
-
-
great history, horrible analysis
- By Michael on 04-12-23
By: Jan Lucassen
-
How Propaganda Works
- By: Jason Stanley
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How Propaganda Works, Jason Stanley demonstrates that more attention needs to be paid. He examines how propaganda operates subtly, how it undermines democracy - particularly the ideals of democratic deliberation and equality - and how it has damaged democracies of the past.
-
-
Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Philosophy
- By Amazon Customer on 04-18-21
By: Jason Stanley
-
Trade Wars Are Class Wars
- How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace
- By: Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trade disputes are usually understood as conflicts between countries with competing national interests, but as Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis show in this book, they are often the unexpected result of domestic political choices to serve the interests of the rich at the expense of workers and ordinary retirees. Klein and Pettis trace the origins of today's trade wars to decisions made by politicians and business leaders in China, Europe, and the United States over the past 30 years.
-
-
Narrator is robotic
- By dugmartssch on 05-22-20
By: Matthew C. Klein, and others
-
A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
-
-
Listen for Nixon's Sake
- By Tricia on 10-26-22
By: Alan S. Blinder
-
American Fascists
- The Christian Right and the War on America
- By: Chris Hedges, Eunice Wong
- Narrated by: Chris Hedges, Eunice Wong
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other televangelists first spoke of the United States being a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedoms and our way of life.
-
-
Please, read or listen to this book.
- By D on 06-22-07
By: Chris Hedges, and others
What listeners say about The People's Republic of Walmart
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Ahlquist
- 02-15-22
"great book, an important tool in your arsenal "
Simple ideas expressed in a way we can use to argue with sociopaths about socialism
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JanK
- 12-26-21
This book is important
This book is lovely, concise, and too the point. The only complaint is that someone could rightly accuse it of being anecdotal - however, the author does a good job at weaving his points onto broader self-evident trends.
A worthy read, regardless of one’s economic or political leanings
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- tanner
- 06-05-21
Insightful from start to finish
I hated supply chain classes in college but the history behind it is quite fascinating.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 01-07-23
Thought provoking
He makes many interesting points under the premise that firms do not operate internally like markets. They are “islands of tyranny”, a phrase that will live rent free in my mind. He provides a lot of history, and some humor and wit. I think he successfully argues that democratically organized economic planning is not only feasible, but already in practice in companies like Walmart and these tools could be in the hands of the people rather than the corporate despots.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 10-21-19
great content ideology lacking
good look at the apologist view for socialism being technically achievable through the planned market system. The twilight zone narrator voice is annoying and condescending though.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Morten Hansen
- 04-17-23
Interesting & thought provoking
Raises a lot of interesting questions while drawing on the history of the subject and practical implementation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Uri N Strauss
- 12-18-22
Great exploration of economic planning
A well-informed look at the economic planning controversy that looks at various historical examples.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Aaron
- 02-04-23
Great explanation of an at surface utopian theory
Simplified the history and theory behind a socialist economy very well, so well my dumbass was able to understand it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ivy
- 04-22-24
A pragmatic view of planning
This book was an excellent and pragmatic approach to economic planning, how it serves us now, and how it may serve us in the future. The arguments were well set up with a brief review of past socialist experiments and the strengths and weaknesses of each system. Each point was backed up with both sound political theory and empirical data from modern economics. I enjoyed the writting and the vision of the authors. This book should absolutely be incuded in entery level courses to economics as a primer on planned economies.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carlos
- 02-26-21
compelling but not convincing
I feel like the author made several good points in favor of economic planning in particular that economic planning is done by capitalist firms and businesses. However, to say that government planning could work since private sector planning works seems like a false equivalence. Also I do not think that the author made a very compelling argument in defense of the Soviet model. I don't think the authors reasons successfully explain away why the Soviet system failed. This is a compelling attempt to rehabilitate economic planning in the wake of the failures of Soviet socialism. Compelling but not convincing. Nonetheless, I would recommend anybody interested in economic theory especially someone open to hearing opposing views read this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful