Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Science Global Warming & Climate Change

The Battle For Paradise

Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists

by (author) Naomi Klein

Publisher
Haymarket Books
Initial publish date
Jun 2018
Category
Global Warming & Climate Change, General, Civics & Citizenship
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781608463572
    Publish Date
    Jun 2018
    List Price
    $15.5
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781608465866
    Publish Date
    Jun 2018
    List Price
    $59.95

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

“We are in a fight for our lives. Hurricanes Irma and María unmasked the colonialism we face in Puerto Rico, and the inequality it fosters, creating a fierce humanitarian crisis. Now we must find a path forward to equality and sustainability, a path driven by communities, not investors. And this book explains, with careful and unbiased reporting, only the efforts of our community activists can answer the paramount question: What type of society do we want to become and who is Puerto Rico for?” —Carmen Yulín Cruz, Mayor of San Juan

In the rubble of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans and ultrarich “Puertopians” are locked in a pitched struggle over how to remake the island. In this vital and startling investigation, bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein uncovers how the forces of shock politics and disaster capitalism seek to undermine the nation's radical, resilient vision for a “just recovery.”

All royalties from the sale of this book in English and Spanish go directly to JunteGente, a gathering of Puerto Rican organizations resisting disaster capitalism and advancing a fair and healthy recovery for their island. For more information, visit http://juntegente.org/.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, documentary filmmaker and author of the international bestsellers No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, and No Is Not Enough.

About the author

When we invited journalist and activist Naomi Klein to campus in the fall of 2004, five years after the international success of her bestselling first book, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, she was a literary star. She had recently returned from a trip to Iraq for Harper's Magazine, which would form the foundation of her next book, Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. We expected she would draw a crowd, so we moved the lecture into the 400-seat St. Thomas University chapel and set up an overflow room downstairs in the cafeteria. When Klein arrived and discovered the overflow room was full, she insisted on stopping there first to address them in person for a few minutes. She said she is always running late; the people in the overflow room were her people. A version of the talk she gave that evening was published in Harper's.

Naomi Klein's profile page

Editorial Reviews

“We are in a fight for our lives. Hurricanes Irma and María unmasked the colonialism we face in Puerto Rico, and the inequality it fosters, creating a fierce humanitarian crisis. Now we must find a path forward to equality and sustainability, a path driven by communities, not investors. And this book explains, with careful and unbiased reporting, only the efforts of our community activists can answer the paramount question: What type of society do we want to become and who is Puerto Rico for?” —Carmen Yulín Cruz, Mayor of San Juan

 

“Naomi Klein concisely reveals to us what Puerto Rico has faced, shock after shock, before Hurricane Maria and after it and also the voices of people who believe and build a future for Puerto Rico from the strength of their communities."
—Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, feminist, human rights activist, former president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association

 

Like so many of my generation, I’ve been a reader of Naomi Klein’s since the late 90s, always finding something to learn from her rigorous reporting and thoughtful analysis. There’s no-one better to tell the story of Hurricane Maria and its global significance than Naomi. In the face of speculation, exploitation and climate crisis, this book calls on us to recognize Puerto Rico’s struggle for democracy, justice, and human life itself, as our own.” —Ada Colau

 

“What ‘shocks' in this work is the resilient spirit del pueblo boricuá. They become the metaphor, the meaning and the maker of possiblity. And one is left immeasurably hopeful.” —Cherríe Moraga, Las Maestras Center for Chicana Indigenous Thought & Art Practice, UCSB

 

“A gripping and timely account of classic 'shock doctrine' being perpetrated in Puerto Rico. Naomi Klein chronicles the extraordinary grassroots resistance by the Puerto Rican people against neoliberal privatization and Wall Street greed in the aftermath of the island's financial meltdown, of hurricane devastation, and of Washington’s imposition of an outside control board over the most important U.S. colony." —Juan González, co-host of Democracy Now! and author of Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America.

 

“Against the rampant greed of disaster capitalism, only radical solidarity can provide the way forward for Puerto Rico. To build it, our approach must be grounded in uncovering and combating the strategies that have been developed to deprive an entire nation of its human rights and its ability to defend itself. Klein's work does precisely this, inspiring a unified vision to create the Puerto Rico we need.” —Amárilis Pagán Jiménez

Other titles by

Doppelganger

A Trip into the Mirror World

by (author) Naomi Klein

The Architecture of Modern Empire

Conversations with David Barsamian

by (author) Arundhati Roy & David Barsamian
foreword by Naomi Klein

How to Change Everything

The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other

by (author) Naomi Klein & Rebecca Stefoff

On Fire

The Burning Case for a Green New Deal

by (author) Naomi Klein

Enjeux et défis du développement international

Acteurs et champs d'action. Édition nouvelle et actualisée

edited by Pierre Beaudet, Dominique Caouette, Paul Haslam & Abdelhamid Benhmade
contributions by Éric Allina, Albert Ze, Alejandro Marreros Lobato, Alexa Conradi, Amélie Nguyen, Arnaud Zacharie, Aurélie Arnaud, Carmen Diaz, Cédric Jourde, Charmain Levy, Christophe Aguiton, David Sogge, Déo Niyonkuru, Diane Alalouf-Hall, Dominique Plihon, Emilio Taddei, Éric Toussaint, Étienne Hainzelin, Flora Pidoux, Florent Song-Naba, Francine Mestrum, François Audet, François Polet, Francoise Montambeault, Geneviève Talbot, Ghislaine Raymond, Gilbert Rist, Gustave Massiah, Hélène Pellerin, Jean-François Rousseau, Jean-Philippe Leblond, Leo Panitch, Jean-Philippe Thérien, Jonathan Durand-Folco, Katina Binette, Lauchlan T. Munro, Laurence Hamel-Charest, Leila Celis, Lucie Lamarche, Luis Klein Juan, Maïka Sondarjee, Mamadou Barry, Mamadou Ndoye, Manon Boulianne, Marie Brodeur-Gelinas, Marie-Éve Bertrand, Marie-Pierre Bousquet, Marie-Pierre Leroux, Maristella Svampa, Mathieu Perron-Dufour, Matthieu Boussichas, Michel Husson, Michel Warschawski, Moussa Dembélé Dembélé Demba, Mylène Gaulard, Nailya Okda, Naomi Klein, Nora Nagels, Pascale Dufour, Philippe Fournier, Philippe Régnier, Pierre Beaucage, Pierre Jasmin, Raphaël Canet, Rino Levesque, Robert David, Roromme Chantal, Ryoa Chung, Samantha McGavin, Sanni Yaya, Sarah Charland-Faucher, Sophie Brière, Stéphanie Maltais, Stephen Brown, Sylvie Paquerot, Thomas Chiasson-Lebel, Thomas Collombat, Walden Bello & Yves-Marie Abraham

La Batalla Por el Paraíso

Puerto Rico y el Capitalismo Del Desastre

by (author) Naomi Klein

The Reconciliation Manifesto

Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy

by (author) Arthur Manuel & Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson
preface by Naomi Klein

No Is Not Enough

Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need

by (author) Naomi Klein

No Is Not Enough

Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need

by (author) Naomi Klein

This Changes Everything

Capitalism vs. the Climate

by (author) Naomi Klein