Commanding Heights

syrakusos

By syrakusos
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syrakusos Newbie

syrakusos

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You can watch these on the PBS Website and if you are thrilled, you can buy them. The videos were produced in the wake of the book by the same title. Commanding Heights won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting. Whether and to what extent this is a purist's view of capitalism is for you to decide. The fact is that little else in the mainstream even comes as close as this does to presenting the "unknown ideal" of capitalism.

They call Milton Friedman's support of Pinochet "liberalism's darkest hour." Their choices of adjectives and adverbs give equal time nods to the best wishes of socialism and capitalism alike. However, the balance sheet shows a plus in the free market accounts.

If there is a star to this show, it is Friedrich von Hayek. His story from his introduction to economics, to his eclipse in the Keynesian years, to his Nobel Prize, is the thread that ties the chapters together.

I read the book, then borrowed the videos from my public library. I took a few notes -- you can always learn something -- but mostly, it was a lot of good entertainment watching advocates of global capitalism take the commanding heights.

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jeffrey smith Newbie

jeffrey smith

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Author's name?

Publication date?

Nowadays I don't watch TV except for the local news and an occassional Great Performances on PBS; so if this series was recent I'm certain to have missed it.

Jeffrey S.

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merjet Newbie

merjet

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Author's name?

Publication date?

http://www.amazon.com/Commanding-Heights-Battle-World-Economy/dp/068483569X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262442322&sr=1-1

I also highly recommend the following by Daniel Yergin.

http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262445080&sr=8-1

Edited by Merlin Jetton
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syrakusos Newbie

syrakusos

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Are the videos sufficient to capture most of the book's material? Sounds very interesting.

Medium being the message, I actually enjoyed the videos more than I enjoyed the book. The reason why is that except for a couple of new facts, this is all known material. I tore through the book page by page. I did not fastforward the videos. In fact, I occasionally ran them back to catch words spoken quickly.

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jeffrey smith Newbie

jeffrey smith

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Thank you!

I had thought it was a more recent book.

I've seen The Prize, and skipped past it in the library. I wasn't familiar with Mr. Yergin's name, so I assumed it was one of the standard New York Times reporter-written books in which American lust for oil causes all the problems of the world. Will remedy that lapse next chance I get.

Jeffrey S.

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anonrobt Newbie

anonrobt

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Thank you!

I had thought it was a more recent book.

I've seen The Prize, and skipped past it in the library. I wasn't familiar with Mr. Yergin's name, so I assumed it was one of the standard New York Times reporter-written books in which American lust for oil causes all the problems of the world. Will remedy that lapse next chance I get.

Jeffrey S.

Videos are available on youtube - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1466397368167658753&ei=TgFAS8-4DoW0qwKnkd0z&q=the+commanding+heights&hl=en#

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