False Dawn - by John Gray (Paperback)

About the Book

A conservative political thinker in the 1980s, Gray concludes that the conservative agenda is no longer viable. In his examination of the ripple effects of the economic turmoil in Russia and Asia on our collective future, Gray provides a passionate polemic against the utopia of the free market.

Book Synopsis

Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as both "a convincing analysis of an international economy headed for disaster" and a "powerful challenge to economic orthodoxy," False Dawn shows that the attempt to impose the Anglo-American-style free market on the world will create a disaster, possibly on the scale of Soviet communism. Even America, the supposed flagship of the new civilization, risks moral and social disintegration as it loses ground to other cultures that have never forgotten that the market works best when it is embedded in society. John Gray, well known in the 1980s as an important conservative political thinker, whose writings were relied upon by Margaret Thatcher and the New Right in Britain, has concluded that the conservative agenda is no longer viable. In his examination of the ripple effects of the economic turmoil in Russia and Asia on our collective future, Gray provides one of the most passionate polemics against the utopia of the free market since Carlyle and Marx.

Review Quotes

"False Dawn is a powerful analysis of the deepening instability of global capitalism. It should be read by all who are concerned about the future of the world economy." -George Soros

"A worthwhile book talks to you. A really worthwhile one invites you to talk back. It won't take you many pages to enter into a dialogue with False Dawn." -Bloomberg

"Gray is surely one of Britain's leading public intellectuals . . . [his] economic theory . . . offers a useful reminder that the global economy need not look the same everywhere." -The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

John Gray is a political philosopher and former professor of European thought at the London School of Economics. He is the author of "False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism," "Two Faces of Liberalism," and "Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern," all published by The New Press. He lives in London.