Books about Dreamworld from Amazon.com

An extraordinary group of thinkers, brought together by the bestselling author of City of Quartz, explore future worlds being created by unfettered capitalism.

Filled with "stories of greed, exploitation and enough conspicuous consumption to make a hedge fund manager blush" (Los Angeles Times) and featured in Utne Reader, In These Times, and New Left Review, Evil Paradises is a global guidebook to capitalist "utopias" being constructed in cities, deserts, and even in the middle of the sea.

This fascinating world tour takes us to Dubai, where a gilded archipelago of private islands offers "supreme lifestyles" to the super-rich and famous; Medellín and Kabul, where drug lords—in many ways textbook capitalists—are redefining conspicuous consumption in fortified palaces; Hong Kong and Cairo, where the local nouveaux riches take shelter in fantasy Californias, while their maids sleep in rooftop chicken coops; and a dozen other places around the world where unfettered capitalism and inequality surpass our worst nightmares. Contributors include: Judit Bodnár, Patrick Bond, Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Joe Day, Marco d'Eramo, Anthony Fontenot, Marina Forti, Forrest Hylton, Sara Lipton, Ajmal Maiwandi, China Miéville, Don Mitchell, Timothy Mitchell, Dennis Rodgers, Laura Ruggeri, Emir Sader, Rebecca Schoenkopf, and Jon Wiener..
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The dream of the twentieth century was the construction of mass utopia. As the century closes, this dream is being left behind; the belief that industrial modernization can bring about the good society by overcoming material scarcity for all has been challenged by the disintegration of European socialism, capitalist restructuring, and ecological constraints. The larger social vision has given way to private dreams of material happiness and to political cynicism.

Developing the notion of dreamworld as both a poetic description of a collective mental state and an analytical concept, Susan Buck-Morss attempts to come to terms with mass dreamworlds at the moment of their passing. She shows how dreamworlds became dangerous when their energy was used by the structures of power as an instrument of force against the masses. Stressing the similarities between the East and West and using the end of the Cold War as her point of departure, she examines both extremes of mass utopia, dreamworld and catastrophe.

The book is in four parts. "Dreamworlds of Democracy" asks whether collective sovereignty can ever be democratic. "Dreamworlds of History" calls for a rethinking of revolution by political and artistic avant-gardes. "Dreamworlds of Mass Culture" explores the affinities between mass culture's socialist and capitalist forms. An "Afterward" places the book in the historical context of the author's collaboration with a group of Moscow philosophers and artists over the past two tumultuous decades. The book is an experiment in visual culture, using images as philosophy, presenting, literally, a way of seeing the past. Its pictorial narratives rescue historical data that with the end of the Cold War are threatened with oblivion and challenge common conceptions of what this century was all about..
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When it comes to crime in Dreamworld, the sprawling Florida vacation resort might as well be never-never land. That's because the bad things that happen there never reach the press. As an ambitious rookie cop on the community's security force, twenty-five-year-old Sylvia Avery toes the company line, smoothing over disturbances that might tarnish the utopian image of Dreamworld and its hugely popular ImagiNation theme park.

But that flawless facade is shattered when a horrific murder-suicide takes place "on property." Thrown into a company-sponsored cover-up, Avery discovers bizarre and disturbing experiments taking place at Dreamworld's ultrasecret research center. Torn between her loyalty to her new boss -- and lover -- and a need to uncover the terrifying truth, Avery enters the dark and twisted world beneath Dreamworld's picture-perfect surface. Now, in a place where fantasy rules and illusion is everything, Avery is about to come face-to-face with a cold and deadly reality.

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Explores shamanic and Tibetan Buddhist attitudes toward dreams..
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If you've ever paid off one credit card with another, thrown out a bill before opening it, or convinced yourself that buying at a two-for-one sale is like making money, then this silly, appealing novel is for you. In the opening pages of Confessions of a Shopaholic, recent college graduate Rebecca Bloomwood is offered a hefty line of credit by a London bank. Within a few months, Sophie Kinsella's heroine has exceeded the limits of this generous offer, and begins furtively to scan her credit-card bills at work, certain that she couldn't have spent the reported sums.

In theory anyway, the world of finance shouldn't be a mystery to Rebecca, since she writes for a magazine called Successful Saving. Struggling with her spendthrift impulses, she tries to heed the advice of an expert and appreciate life's cheaper pleasures: parks, museums, and so forth. Yet her first Saturday at the Victoria and Albert Museum strikes her as a waste. Why? There's not a price tag in sight.

It kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? You wander round, just looking at things, and it all gets a bit boring after a while. Whereas if they put price tags on, you'd be far more interested. In fact, I think all museums should put prices on their exhibits. You'd look at a silver chalice or a marble statue or the Mona Lisa or whatever, and admire it for its beauty and historical importance and everything--and then you'd reach for the price tag and gasp, "Hey, look how much this one is!" It would really liven things up.

Eventually, Rebecca's uncontrollable shopping and her "imaginative" solutions to her debt attract the attention not only of her bank manager but of handsome Luke Brandon--a multimillionaire PR representative for a finance group frequently covered in Successful Saving. Unlike her opposite number in Bridget Jones's Diary, however, Rebecca actually seems too scattered and spacey to reel in such a successful man. Maybe it's her Denny and George scarf. In any case, Kinsella's debut makes excellent fantasy reading for the long stretches between white sales and appliance specials. --Regina Marler.
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The Marxist Empire is considered by many historians and scholars as the definitive history of Communism--from the Marxist coup of October 1917 through 70 years of turbulence and upheaval. The events and data described reflect the global scope, relentless tyranny, economic ennui, and ludicrous denouement of the Marxist Empire. Each chapter contains a full list of Sources and Recommended Reading, a total bibliography of several thousand books, works and writings--perhaps the most comprehensive bibliography of writings concerning Communism available anywhere. An excellent book..
Price: $12.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In these times of racial tension and misunderstanding, Adam's Eve is a refreshing breath of hope. It is the story of Adam, an African-American pilot who is flying to the pacific northwest to change his life. Enroute he encouters a severe storm and is forced to crash land in a southern bastion of bigotry--Eve, Louisianna. While there Adam is faced with the unexpected perils of being framed with murder, the Klan, who are trying to kill him and falling in love with the most beautiful woman that he has ever seen--who is white. Adam struggles to work through his perilous circumstances-- all as our story builds us to a exciting climax....
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This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 1376 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Dreamworld and Catastrophe: The Passing of Mass Utopia in East and West. (book review)
Author: Andrew Wernick
Publication:Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Page: 336(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale.
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