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Located on 2000 acres of land overlooking the Egyptian pyramids of Giza, the Dreamland luxury development bills itself as "an integrated city where a relaxed lifestyle mixe[s] with a high-tech infrastructure with no upper limits on quality." But for Davis (history, U. of California at Irvine) and Monk (peace studies, Colgate U.), Dreamland is at on
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mike Davis has done it again: this collection, edited by Davis together with Daniel Bertrand Monk, is yet another forceful, readable, and compelling indictment of capitalism and its (re)shaping of our one and only planet. Unlike most other Davis books, this one is not mostly written by him, but instead collects a series of essays and observations by various authors on the single topic of capitalist, neoliberal cities and their anti-human properties. As is the nature of essay collections, there is some unevenness both in theme and quality in the book, but the general level of insight as well as writing style is high throughout, and almost all the essays are worth reading.
The collection totals some 19 articles, containing a fairly broad range of topics within the constraints of the general subject. Several essays are about the creation of neoliberal claustrophobic cities for the wealthy, from Hong Kong to Budapest; particularly worthwhile in this range is the polemic against the nightmarish 'paradise' of Dubai, now so hip in the Western media, done by Mike Davis himself. But there are also other themes: Sara Lipton has an article on monasteries as fashionable retreats for the bourgeoisie, Joe Day writes about modern 'personal musea' created by the ultra-wealthy as showpieces, Rebecca Schoenkopf mocks the bizarrely spoiled worldview of the upper class of Orange County, and so on. China Miéville's well-known essay on libertarian ideals, "Floating Utopias", is also part of this collection.
Overall, not all contributions are equally interesting, but generally this is a great book for becoming (or staying) infuriated about the pretense, arrogance, and cowardice of the wealthy few in our times, as well as the stranglehold they have over public space and even the formation of the very cities the millions of poor also have to live in; the same poor who do the work that makes their "Evil Paradises" possible.
The collection totals some 19 articles, containing a fairly broad range of topics within the constraints of the general subject. Several essays are about the creation of neoliberal claustrophobic cities for the wealthy, from Hong Kong to Budapest; particularly worthwhile in this range is the polemic against the nightmarish 'paradise' of Dubai, now so hip in the Western media, done by Mike Davis himself. But there are also other themes: Sara Lipton has an article on monasteries as fashionable retreats for the bourgeoisie, Joe Day writes about modern 'personal musea' created by the ultra-wealthy as showpieces, Rebecca Schoenkopf mocks the bizarrely spoiled worldview of the upper class of Orange County, and so on. China Miéville's well-known essay on libertarian ideals, "Floating Utopias", is also part of this collection.
Overall, not all contributions are equally interesting, but generally this is a great book for becoming (or staying) infuriated about the pretense, arrogance, and cowardice of the wealthy few in our times, as well as the stranglehold they have over public space and even the formation of the very cities the millions of poor also have to live in; the same poor who do the work that makes their "Evil Paradises" possible.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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9 reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Just in Case you wanna know how bad things really are...
26 July 2007
Format:Hardcover
By the time you're done reading about the guy in the US who is arrested while delivering pampers because the city streets he walked all his life were privatized, or about the offshore hotels inhabited by the super rich so they never pay taxes in any country, or about Ted Turner's autonomous kingdom in Patagonia you'll start to put two and two together. This book does what I haven't seen anyone else do: look at the world we're heading towards by checking out the mini-'utopias' that the planet's plutocracy fashion for themselves in denial of inequality they produce. As the Dude put it: "New s@#t has come to light." Now what are we gonna do about it?
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
The wealthy everywhere want their gated communities
11 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed Davis's "City of Quartz" about Los Angeles, and I thought I'd enjoy this collection of essays, edited by Davis. The problem with a collection of essays is that there is no common style and no common approach to the book's theme. On the positive side, there is always something that each person will like, and at least a few essays will strike a chord with anyone interested enough to open the book.
The theme - and it's a loose one - is that the world's nouveaux riches are creating poorly designed communities that isolate them from the broader society, and in the long run, these communities are not in anyone's self-interest, not even the self-interest of the people who live in them. For Americans, the archetype of this phenomenon is the gated suburban development in which McMansions sit on overly-spacious plots of land. Numerous countries, especially those with the worst income inequalities, are copying the phenomenon of the gated community, in which the well-to-do try to isolate themselves from their fellow citizens.
Here are the topics covered by these essays: New luxury suburbs in Egypt, Iran, Dubai, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Nicaragua, Hungary, Columbia, and Brazil. Several essays are about the US from various angles, covering Minneapolis, Sun City (Arizona), Orange County (California), and Richmond (Virginia). There are essays about Ted Turner's rural landholdings in New Mexico and elsewhere, self-aggrandizing museums in the US, the fad of experiencing monastery life for brief visits, and an essay about planned "floating utopias" in international waters.
Some of the essays are excellent (e.g., the essay about Hong Kong, or the saga of of the man arrested for being on a "public" sidewalk in Richmond), while others are hodgepodges of leftist jargon. But as a totality, this book doesn't hang together as well as it might. Also, some of the authors wander far from the intended theme. It's fascinating to read about conflicts between the TV mogul, Ted Turner, and his rural neighbors, or to read about millionaires' museums as monuments to themselves, but the overall cohesiveness of the book is harmed.
The theme - and it's a loose one - is that the world's nouveaux riches are creating poorly designed communities that isolate them from the broader society, and in the long run, these communities are not in anyone's self-interest, not even the self-interest of the people who live in them. For Americans, the archetype of this phenomenon is the gated suburban development in which McMansions sit on overly-spacious plots of land. Numerous countries, especially those with the worst income inequalities, are copying the phenomenon of the gated community, in which the well-to-do try to isolate themselves from their fellow citizens.
Here are the topics covered by these essays: New luxury suburbs in Egypt, Iran, Dubai, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Nicaragua, Hungary, Columbia, and Brazil. Several essays are about the US from various angles, covering Minneapolis, Sun City (Arizona), Orange County (California), and Richmond (Virginia). There are essays about Ted Turner's rural landholdings in New Mexico and elsewhere, self-aggrandizing museums in the US, the fad of experiencing monastery life for brief visits, and an essay about planned "floating utopias" in international waters.
Some of the essays are excellent (e.g., the essay about Hong Kong, or the saga of of the man arrested for being on a "public" sidewalk in Richmond), while others are hodgepodges of leftist jargon. But as a totality, this book doesn't hang together as well as it might. Also, some of the authors wander far from the intended theme. It's fascinating to read about conflicts between the TV mogul, Ted Turner, and his rural neighbors, or to read about millionaires' museums as monuments to themselves, but the overall cohesiveness of the book is harmed.
12 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Evil Paradises: A Seminal Analysis of our Dadaist Reality
19 July 2007
Format:Hardcover
In "Evil Paradises", Mike Davis and Daniel Bertrand Monk describe the consequences of neoliberal politics across the world. From Dubai to Kabul via Hong Kong, Cairo or Los Angeles, this stunning analysis takes shape around a rich collection of essays from leading academic researchers including Sara Lipton, Jon Wiener and Marina Forti. "Evil Paradises" represents an essential work in the search for a description of our phantasmagoric reality. Highly recommended to anyone interested to learn about the consequences of global economy and politics.
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