Rating: 
Summary: Economists openly taking a stand! GREAT!
Review: "Economics" in the US is usually code for "why 'free enterprise' is better than the tooth fairy." I get sick of so-called economists and many other social scientists telling us that being "objective" is somehow possible and desirable. Whenever someone in the U.S. says they are being "objective" about a subjective subject like economics - they really mean they are for the dominant capitalist status quo. This book makes no bones about being critical and NON-objective - and its refreshing and much needed. I teach high school economics and I can't get kids to put this book down. It may not be scholarly work - but it makes important HUMAN issues graphically clear in its pages. Every American should read this book. Excellent stuff. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Economists openly taking a stand! GREAT!
Review: "Economics" in the US is usually code for "why 'free enterprise' is better than the tooth fairy." I get sick of so-called economists and many other social scientists telling us that being "objective" is somehow possible and desirable. Whenever someone in the U.S. says they are being "objective" about a subjective subject like economics - they really mean they are for the dominant capitalist status quo. This book makes no bones about being critical and NON-objective - and its refreshing and much needed. I teach high school economics and I can't get kids to put this book down. It may not be scholarly work - but it makes important HUMAN issues graphically clear in its pages. Every American should read this book. Excellent stuff. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: An ideal survey for the non-specialist general reader.
Review: Field Guide to the U.S. Economy blends humor with an observation of the U.S. economy, examining complex economic scenarios and putting together the collective work and humor of over forty progressive economists affiliated with the Center for Popular Economics at Amherst University. Light reading, filled with important points, and ideal for the non-specialist general reader.
Rating:
Summary: An ideal survey for the non-specialist general reader.
Review: Field Guide to the U.S. Economy blends humor with an observation of the U.S. economy, examining complex economic scenarios and putting together the collective work and humor of over forty progressive economists affiliated with the Center for Popular Economics at Amherst University. Light reading, filled with important points, and ideal for the non-specialist general reader.
Rating:
Summary: Great resource
Review: I love this book. It's a terrific, easy-to-read source ofinformation about the US economy, giving careful attention to economic realities for women, people of color, poor people, and everybody else whose individual net worth is under Bill Gates' $90 billion. (It's estimated that the cost of providing education, health care, adequate food and safe water for all the people of the earth is about $40 billion - I read it in the Field Guide!) This book is an outstanding resource on the economics of everything from elections to health to the environment to gender to the global economy, kept reader-friendly by cartoons, swift wit, and a great guide to sources for more information (complete with web addresses!).
Rating: 
Summary: My econ professor has always told me to...
Review: My econ professor consistently instructs us to approach the topic of economics from an objective standpoint. This is the most slanted economics text I have ever read. No way people actually use this book in a classroom setting! I got through half of the book before I had to toss it out because it totally distorts the rational economic theories that I have learned throughout college. I am neither liberal or conservative, but a realist who understands enough about economic history to know that there is more than the one-sided arguments that are presented here.
Rating:
Summary: Just the Most Telling Facts
Review: Readers seeking an introduction to capitalistic theory and its relationship to the U.S. economy can find better works elsewhere. This book doesn't purport to provide that kind of analysis. But if readers want a book that provides facts on how capitalism effects individuals in the U.S. across a variety of racial, gender and class lines, then it is hard to imagine a better book than this one. The book is an easy read, but it is by no means simplistic. It is easy because capitalism isn't nearly as successful at providing a fair and equitable standard of living as is commonly held. The book proves that point quite well. Readers might be surprised to discover facts in this book about the U.S. economy that they've never read before. It's a real eye-opener.
Rating:
Summary: Just the Most Telling Facts
Review: Readers seeking an introduction to capitalistic theory and its relationship to the U.S. economy can find better works elsewhere. This book doesn't purport to provide that kind of analysis. But if readers want a book that provides facts on how capitalism effects individuals in the U.S. across a variety of racial, gender and class lines, then it is hard to imagine a better book than this one. The book is an easy read, but it is by no means simplistic. It is easy because capitalism isn't nearly as successful at providing a fair and equitable standard of living as is commonly held. The book proves that point quite well. Readers might be surprised to discover facts in this book about the U.S. economy that they've never read before. It's a real eye-opener.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch!
Review: The Field Guide is a pointed critique of the US economy, and in fact IS well referenced with clear citations for all its statistics (see pages 213-222). Most of the information is culled either from government sources or from the corporations themselves, as printed in publications like Business Week, Fortune, and the New York Times. And when there are comparisons made they're relevant; for example, comparing industrialized nations and developing countries exclusively. What's best about the Field Guide is that it's a clever resource for fighting off all those people who would tell you "I don't believe it." As the title would suggest, The Field Guide provides you with the tools so you too can find and understand economic information yourself. From pages 194-212 you'll find the 'Toolkit', which has neat things like explanations of how to collect your own information and make graphs. Fun stuff. The Field Guide helps fight the obfuscation of corporate shills.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch!
Review: This book is a childish attempt to get people upset about corporations and all the economic "unfairness" there is in the world. This is a book pushing a Liberal/Socialist agenda and it selectively picks out statistics that help it advance that agenda. For instance, statistics are compared across countries without any effort being made to control for important differences such as education, age of population, etcetera. And count yourself blessed if you can find a reference to where these quoted statistics are taken from. As an economist I am amazed by this. There are rational, economic based arguments for Liberal causes, yet this book opts to present facts out of context instead of trying to encourage readers to think and formulate ideas. Of course this shouldn't surprise anyone given it's a comic book published by Popular Economics (as oposed to unpopular) and reviewed favorably by the self-annointed economist Noam Chomsky.
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