Evil Paradises: Dreamworlds of Neoliberalism

Enjoyable read that addresses the growth of gated communities in cities across the globe. The book highlights the false constructions of community that these developments sell, as privatization commodifies community. I particularly liked the essay on Palm Springs in Hong Kong, the one on Managua's very recent redevelopment and repopulation by the wealthy, as well as the one on water rights in Johannesburg.

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.

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?

Evil Paradises, edited by Mike Davis and Daniel Bertrand Monk, is an important and timely book. It brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines and takes us on a global tour too easily overlooked. Highly recommended.

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.