About this title: With searing wit and incisive commentary, John Kenneth Galbraith redefined America's perception of itself in "The New Industrial State, one of his landmark works. The United States is no longer a free-enterprise society, Galbraith argues, but a structured state controlled by the largest companies. Advertising is the means by which these companies manage demand and create consumer "need" where none previously existed. Multinational corporations are the continuation of this power system on an international level. The goal of these companies is not the betterment of society, but immortality ...
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"I read this when it was first published in 1967. As part of my freshman Honors Econ course I wrote a blistering critique of what I still consider one of the worst book of economics I have ever read. Today Paul Krugman stands in for Galbraith as the best example of an advocate of "bad" economics."
"I read this enjoyable work alongside its companion volumes, American Capitalism and Economics and the Public Purpose, for the course in Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism taught under Loyola University Chicago's Philosophy Department in the first semester of 1981/82."
"John Kenneth Galbraith gave me a copy of this book in the Atlanta airport. What happened was this: he had come to make an address at the University of Georgia shortly after the publication of The New Industrial State. The faculty member who was driving him back to the airport asked me if I wanted to join two male students in accompanying him to Atlanta. I knew a lot about Galbraith, not only because I admired his work with the Kennedy administration, but because I read the New York Times and the Washington Post. I knew all about his and his wife's close friendship with Jackie O., and that he had been at the famous Black and White Ball, which had just taken place at the time.
Conversation in the station wagon on the way to the airport was pretty stilted. The guys wanted to talk economics, and I could tell that JKG was bored to tears. When we stopped for gas, the two guys and the professor got out of the car. I turned to JKG and said, "Tell me all about the Black and White Ball. I want details!" The next thing I know, JKG is dishing the dirt on the party, and how George Plimpton organized a touch football game in the ballroom at the Plaza, and who got too drunk, and who was wearing what. Then I turned the conversation to Jackie O. Things really took off when he showed me the book on India that he had written, and that Jackie O. had edited. She had called him the night before, and he told me all about the phone call. For one brief, shining moment, I was in Camelot.
As if that weren't enough, when we got to the airport, we all piled out of the car, and JKG and I went on talking like old friends. We went inside and escorted him to his gate. When we got there, he said, "I want to give you something." He reached inside his briefcase and pulled out a copy of The New Industrial State, which he autographed and presented to me. Then he literally swept me off my feet, gave me a huge hug, grinned, winked, and went to get on the plane.
On the way back to Athens, I started reading my new book. It was hard, though, because the guys kept breaking my concentration, saying ,"How did you do that? What did you just do?" So the first lesson I learned from this book, just by being given this copy of it, is that no matter what their station in life, people just want to be treated like people. Everyone has a fascinating story to tell. You just have to ask them for it.
And, by the way, this book has a serious message about how soulless megabusiness has overtaken government, leaving the will of the people and their welfare behind in tatters. Time has vindicated Galbraith's position in this ground-breaking work."
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