Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: Maonomics

Maonomics: why Chinese Communists make better capitalists than we do by Loretta Napoleoni 2011

In her book Maonomics: why Chinese Communists make better capitalists than we do Napoleoni examines the present political and economic conditions by comparing those of the West, primarily the American and British, to those of China. She points out the biases and baggage in our interpretation of words such as “communism” vs “capitalism” and of “democracy” vs “dictatorship” and how they influence our perception of the world.

Napoleoni goes back to the basics: the early philosophers that influenced the thinking of the West vs the East, Machiavelli vs Confucius. Using past and recent events, and stripping away some preconceptions, she compares how the lives of everyday people are affected by globalization in China and in the West. It is not always the way that it seems.

The book constantly asks questions: Is our multi-party electoral system truly the expression of the majority? Was Marxism ever applied as Marx intended? Where did the theory of supply-side economics come from? How free are we really? What are the long-term effects of Reagan and Thatcher’s economics?

This is a book that makes us truly examine what is going on in our world at present. You may not always agree with Napoleoni, but she will make you think.