by Nikolas Kozloff
|
| List Price: | $14.95 |
| Amazon Price: | $10.17 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $4.78 (32%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $8.95 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
Audacious, provocative, and bombastic, few world politicians are as colorful as Hugo Chávez, now making international news for his plans to nationalize U.S. owned businesses and his bold opposition to Washington's economic and trade policies. As Venezuela gains importance as the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, this firebrand leader is quickly moving to the public spotlight by uniting much of South America against the Bush administration and wielding oil as a "geopolitical weapon." To create this rich and objective portrait, Nikolas Kozloff--one of the few American journalists who has spent years in the Andean region--has profiled Chávez's top advisors, leaders of his movement, and other key figures in both Venezuela and the U.S. The result is a timely, exhaustive analysis of Chávez as a political leader, and a nuanced examination of the president moving to the center of the global stage. Includes a new afterword by the author, with insights into Chávez's reelection in relation to wider hemispheric politics.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 An Alternative View, 2008-03-30
Provides an alternative view of Chavez from that of our government and the corporate media. Chavez was elected and re-elected democratically by the Venezuelan people with strong majorities. If you believe in democracy--which some on the right claim to do--that should also season your opinion of Chavez. Nobody says that you have to like Chavez, but try being a little more accurate in your use of terms like "dictator."
I found the book to be fairly informative. The author's adulation of Chavez was a little disconcerting at times. There is some degree of hagiography at work here. Also, the author does make some asides in his writing that really could be left out. The defeated conservative candidate for the Bolivian presidency is characterized as wearing a "red polo shirt." This is opposed to the native dress of the successful leftist candidate, who wears a more native costume. Some of these remarks could have been easily left out.
Still, I agree with the author that globalization and US economic dominance of Latin America are not good things. The push for more regional autonomy for Latin America on the part of Chavez and other South American leadership makes a lot of sense in the long run. He who lives by Wall Street, quite literally, can die by Wall Street. "Fair trade" and justice for all. I also agree with the author that Chavez's attempts to alleviate the conditions of the Venezuelan poor are most admirable. His populist, "middle road" approach seems to me to make a great deal of sense.
However, I would criticize the author for his seeming support of Chavez's position on supporting the growing of coca. If the coca were to be only used locally in Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. that is one thing. But this is the essential part of the multi-billion dollar cocaine trade out of Latin America. No US administration could fail to take actions against this trade. White liberal guilt should neither excuse or enable this trade. The production and promotion of cocaine is both criminal and morally bankrupt. I agree there need to be alternatives. But no one can sell me the line that this is the only activity that the poor of the Andes are capable of. If we cannot agree across political boundaries that hard drugs are not acceptable, I don't know what we can agree upon.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 You will be better informed, 2008-02-28
If mainstream news leaves you with more questions than answers, read this book. It's accurate and informative. Latin America is not full of crazy, misguided people as many of us here believe. If your a fan of right wing radio, you will no doubt hate this book, but anyone with a desire to learn will appreciate it.
2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 Poorly Written, Inaccurate, and Absurd, 2008-02-07
This book is one of the worst books I have read in recent years.
Nikolas Kozloff, a self-proclaimed anarchist, analyzes the history of Chavez through an inaccurate and self-important lense. Not only does this book contain numerous inaccuracies as to the Venezuela experience, some of the information presented is pure fabrication. The book reaches unsupported and absurd conclusions in an unabashed effort to glorify Chavez and undermine the United States and international organizations. Mr. Kozloff's propensity to use falacious logic is present throughout the entire book.
I highly recommend against purchasing this book unless you want to understand the absolute garbage spewing forth from many quarters in an effort to promote totalitarian and abusive governments. While there are many valid arguments in today's world against the United States foreign policy, the IMF, the WTO, NAFTA, the FTAA, and other bodies and viewpoints, Mr. Kozloff's book does not contain any of them. Instead, this book chooses to set up an absurd straw man and to riddle its body with made up arguments.
If you are looking for discussions of globalization in general, I refer you to such books as The World Is Flat and Runaway World: How Globalisation Is Reshaping Our Lives. If you are looking for books framed around Chavez, I would recommend looking as far from this book as possible.
9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Dreadful Book, 2007-11-05
Hugo Chavez, Oil Politics and the Challenge to the U.S. by Nikolas Kozloff lacks focus, is confusing and ultimately is not worth the time or effort to read. Kozloff is a senior research fellow for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, D.C. who holds a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Oxford University and writes regularly on Venezuela. With these credentials I was expecting a solid, fact based, informative biography about the man who presides over Venezuela, but this book did not deliver on any account.
The author freely expresses his leftist views throughout the book, which in turn skews him from providing any reader a real analytical view of Chavez and the programs and policies that he is implementing within Venezuela. More often than not Kozloff uses Chavez and his policies to discredit and attack the Bush Administration, while using unsupported claims, "the state owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela Sociedad Anonima (PdVSA) entered into a joint venture with Science Applications International Corporation, (SAIC) to use SAIC contacts within the CIA to conduct sabotage and espionage in Venezuela," and plenty of leftist bias to make his points. For example, in chapter 4 Kozloff details his personnel involvement in organizing protest against the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, his association with London based anarchist and how he returned to Oxford and joined in the anti-capitalist May Day protests in London. Kozloff continually interjected his own experiences in Latin Amercia throughout the book which were irrelevant to Chavez, and contributed nothing but reinforcement of his leftist credentials.
Kozloff does try to tackle the subject of how Chavez uses oil to leverage influence and as a weapon throughout Latin and North America. Kozloff would have done well to focus the book on this topic and how Chavez intends to use oil both domestically and internationally to achieve his stated goals.
Kozloff fails to mention or discuss the repressive nature of Chavez or the effects of Chavez's stances against multinational corporations. Kozloff does spend a good deal of time outlining Chavez's policies towards indigenous peoples of the Andes region, but again he fails to make the case that what Chavez is doing is in the best interest of these people. Kozloff points out how Chavez is assisting the indigenous people of the Andes, but it is usually in the context of using them against the right leaning government of Columbia or against the U.S.
Hugo Chavez, Oil, Politics and the Challenge to the U.S. offers the reader nothing with regards to Chavez and his domestic or international policies. I was looking for an expert biography about the man and his policies but, clearly this was not the book that would provide me with that insight. Do not read the book it is not worth the time or expense.
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 Semi-good read, 2007-10-30
This book is an incredible piece of investigative work. Nikolas Kozloff delves deeper into critical issues than most other authors do by presenting vast background information on key players in historic events. Sometimes, however, he takes this a step too far and begins including little anecdotes from his personal experiences in Venezuela that resemble a memoir more so than an informative book. Also, he makes no attempt to hide his hatred for U.S. policies and often times his writing becomes rather noneducational and ridden with personal opinion. Some of the information included in the book at times comes from questionable sources that he seems to take at face value and presents as fact, such as information from Chavez's mouth itself. I personally feel that the book adds to the literature written on this subject by foreigners who enjoy the freedoms, civil liberties, and comforts of 1st world nations and who happen to find themselves in line with and interested in President Chavez's socialist experiment as long as they aren't the ones living under and being subjected to his policies. Nonetheless, the book is incredibly informative and with some filtering does give an excellent account the Venezuelan revolution and U.S. policy.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|