About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherDuke University Press

ISBN-100822334267

ISBN-139780822334262

eBay Product ID (ePID)30535507

Product Key Features

Book TitleIt's All for Sale : the Control of Global Resources

Number of Pages272 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicMaterials Science / General, Public Policy / Science & Technology Policy, Natural Resources

Publication Year2004

GenreNature, Political Science, Technology & Engineering

AuthorJames Ridgeway

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight18.8 Oz

Item Length9.8 in

Item Width5.9 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2004-009139

Dewey Edition22

Reviewsâ€œThere are few matters more important than the one James Ridgeway addresses in this essential book: the commodification of natural resources and of life itself. From water to kidneys to human beings, there is little the modern corporation hasnâ€™t figured out how to turn to private profit. Read this book before itâ€™s too late.â€�-Sam Smith, editor of the Progressive Review and author of Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-down Land, ""It's All for Sale "is most valuable as a reference work--a lean but handy encylopedia of our age's relentless blending of utilitarianism and greed." --Michael W. Robbins, "Mother Jones", "James Ridgeway's It's All for Sale is a wake-up call to the human community of the consequences of an economic system whose appetites for raw material is limitless, and in which there are no limits, no boundaries about what is a commodity and what is not. The privatization and enclosure of biodiversity, of water, of air and the trade in human beings and human organs are indicators that we could be witnessing an end of being human. Essential reading for the ecology movement, the justice movement, the peace movement, and all who believe 'Our world is not for sale.'"--Vandana Shiva, founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in New Delhi, India, "James Ridgeway is one of our most astute and bold social critics, and in this book he puts his sharp pen to use in making us aware of how so many things in the world, including human beings themselves, are being turned into something for profit. It is a needed wake-up call, and I hope it will startle us into resisting the commodification of our world."-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, "There are few matters more important than the one James Ridgeway addresses in this essential book: the commodification of natural resources and of life itself. From water to kidneys to human beings, there is little the modern corporation hasn't figured out how to turn to private profit. Read this book before it's too late."-Sam Smith, editor of the Progressive Review and author of Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-down Land, "James Ridgeway is one of our most astute and bold social critics, and in this book he puts his sharp pen to use in making us aware of how so many things in the world, including human beings themselves, are being turned into something for profit. It is a needed wake-up call, and I hope it will startle us into resisting the commodification of our world."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, â€œJames Ridgeway is one of our most astute and bold social critics, and in this book he puts his sharp pen to use in making us aware of how so many things in the world, including human beings themselves, are being turned into something for profit. It is a needed wake-up call, and I hope it will startle us into resisting the commodification of our world.â€�-Howard Zinn, author of A Peopleâ€™s History of the United States, "There are few matters more important than the one James Ridgeway addresses in this essential book: the commodification of natural resources and of life itself. From water to kidneys to human beings, there is little the modern corporation hasn't figured out how to turn to private profit. Read this book before it's too late."--Sam Smith, editor of the Progressive Review and author of Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-down Land, "By laying out our possessions' material origins, the book should earn a place in homes next to other popular reference works like "The Book of Lists," Ridgeway offers a canon of information that anyone might want to know and teach their kids. Plus, his book is skimmable, good to pick up for short sittings. . . . Like "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy," Ridgeway's book condenses knowledge of specific information essential to our culture--and which few discuss." --Matthew Fleischer-Black," The Village Voice", "The book is organized commodity by commodity. Ridgeway gives a brief, and sometimes fascinating, description of the usefulness and history of each substance, its exploitation by the few and its inevitable depletion." --Publishers Weekly, â€œJames Ridgewayâ€™s Itâ€™s All for Sale is a wake-up call to the human community of the consequences of an economic system whose appetites for raw material is limitless, and in which there are no limits, no boundaries about what is a commodity and what is not. The privatization and enclosure of biodiversity, of water, of air and the trade in human beings and human organs are indicators that we could be witnessing an end of being human. Essential reading for the ecology movement, the justice movement, the peace movement, and all who believe â€˜Our world is not for sale.â€™â€�-Vandana Shiva, founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in New Delhi, India, "[C]over[s] everything that an intelligent reader would want to know about commodity markets." --Dennis Pirages, "Perspectives on Political Science", "James Ridgeway's It's All for Sale is a wake-up call to the human community of the consequences of an economic system whose appetites for raw material is limitless, and in which there are no limits, no boundaries about what is a commodity and what is not. The privatization and enclosure of biodiversity, of water, of air and the trade in human beings and human organs are indicators that we could be witnessing an end of being human. Essential reading for the ecology movement, the justice movement, the peace movement, and all who believe 'Our world is not for sale.'"-Vandana Shiva, founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in New Delhi, India, "The book is very useful in summarizing the present status and recent trends regarding the world's most important resources. . . . Recommend. All collections." --W. C. Struning, "Choice", "Ridgeway gives appalling examples of how a shrinking number of big corporations suck up our nation's agricultural welfare programs." --Tom Pelton, "Baltimore Sun"

Dewey Decimal333.7

Table Of ContentAcknowledgments vii Introduction ix Fresh Water 1 Fuels 9 Metals 41 Forests 81 Fibers 89 Fertilizers 97 Foods 100 Flowers 143 Drugs 149 Human Beings 167 The Sky 191 The Oceans 198 Biodiversity 205 Notes 211 Bibliography 227 Index 235

Edition DescriptionAnnotated edition

SynopsisFive companies dominate the U.S. petroleum industry. Five control the worldwide trade in grain. Two have a corner on the private market for drinking water. In terms of actual dollars, trade in heroin, cocaine, and tobacco ranks alongside that in grain or metals. There are more slaves in the world today than ever before. Resource by resource, "It's All for Sale" uncovers and discloses who owns, buys, and sells what. Some resources--such as fuel, metals, fertilizers, drugs, fibers, food, forests, and flowers--have, for better or worse, long been thought of as commodities. Others--including fresh water, human beings, the sky, the oceans, and life itself (in the form of genetic codes)--are more startling to think of as products with price tags, but, as James Ridgeway shows, they are treated as such on a massive scale in lucrative markets around the world. Revealing the surprisingly small number of companies that control many of the basic commodities we use in everyday life, "It's All for Sale "confirms in specific detail that globalization has been accompanied by an extraordinary concentration of ownership. At the same time, it is about much more than what company has cornered the market in corn or diamonds. Corporations and captains of industry, wars and swindles, oppressors and the oppressed, empires and colonies, military might and commercial power, economic boom and bust--all these come alive in Ridgeway's canny and arresting reporting about the global scramble for power and profit. "It's All for Sale" is an invaluable source for researchers, activists, and all those concerned with globalization, corporate power, and the exploitation of individuals and the environment., An analysis of who owns and controls the world's natural resources, geared for the general reader but useful for scholars of development, international relations and the environment., Five companies dominate the U.S. petroleum industry. Five control the worldwide trade in grain. Two have a corner on the private market for drinking water. In terms of actual dollars, trade in heroin, cocaine, and tobacco ranks alongside that in grain or metals. There are more slaves in the world today than ever before. Resource by resource, It's All for Sale uncovers and discloses who owns, buys, and sells what. Some resources--such as fuel, metals, fertilizers, drugs, fibers, food, forests, and flowers--have, for better or worse, long been thought of as commodities. Others--including fresh water, human beings, the sky, the oceans, and life itself (in the form of genetic codes)--are more startling to think of as products with price tags, but, as James Ridgeway shows, they are treated as such on a massive scale in lucrative markets around the world. Revealing the surprisingly small number of companies that control many of the basic commodities we use in everyday life, It's All for Sale confirms in specific detail that globalization has been accompanied by an extraordinary concentration of ownership. At the same time, it is about much more than what company has cornered the market in corn or diamonds. Corporations and captains of industry, wars and swindles, oppressors and the oppressed, empires and colonies, military might and commercial power, economic boom and bust--all these come alive in Ridgeway's canny and arresting reporting about the global scramble for power and profit. It's All for Sale is an invaluable source for researchers, activists, and all those concerned with globalization, corporate power, and the exploitation of individuals and the environment.

LC Classification NumberHC85.R533 2004