In About.com: Economics, Mike Moffatt excerpts from Tyler Cowen's review of The Shock Doctrine.

First, a couple of lines from Cowen (not part of Moffatt's excerpt):

It's probably the most effective brand of emotional nonfiction to be published this year. But when it comes to the underlying message, and the standards of evidence used to support it, "The Shock Doctrine" is a true economics disaster.

Ms. Klein's book provides an interesting litmus test as to who is willing to condemn its shoddy reasoning. In the New York Times, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz defended the book: "Klein is not an academic and cannot be judged as one." So nonacademics get a pass on sloppy thinking, false "facts," and emotional appeals? In making economic claims, Ms. Klein demands to be judged by economists' standards — or at the very least, standards of simple truth or falsehood.

Moffatt's conclusion:

I really want to like the work of Naomi Klein. She's a terrific writer, a Canadian, and I believe the west needs a thoughtful critic of conspicuous consumption. But so far in her career, Ms. Klein has refused to engage in any kind of intellectual debate, instead focusing on taking cheap-shots at people who are no longer around to defend themselves (Friedman). The sad reality is that the works of Thorstein Veblen, which are over 100 years old, have more current relevance than Shock Doctrine which came out last month.