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  • The Managerial Revolution

  • What Is Happening in the World
  • Written by: James Burnham
  • Narrated by: Keith Hahn
  • Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (10 ratings)

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The Managerial Revolution

Written by: James Burnham
Narrated by: Keith Hahn
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Publisher's Summary

"Burnham has real intellectual courage, and writes about real issues." (George Orwell)

Burnham’s claim was not that capitalism was dead, but that it was being replaced not by socialism, but a new economic system he called “managerialism” - rule by managers.

Written in 1941, this is the book that theorized how the world was moving into the hands of the "managers". Burnham explains how capitalism had virtually lost its control, and would be displaced not by labour, nor by socialism, but by the rule of administrators in business and in government.

This revolution, he posited, is as broad as the world and as comprehensive as human society, asking "Why is 'totalitarianism' not the issue?" "Can civilization be destroyed?" and "Why is the New Deal something bigger than Roosevelt can handle?"

In a volume extraordinary for its dispassionate handling of those and other fundamental questions, James Burnham explores fully the implications of the managerial revolution.

Praise for James Burnham:

"The stoic, detached, empirical, hard-boiled, penetrating, realist mind of James Burnham is something to behold, to admire, to emulate." (National Review)

"James Burnham was an astonishing writer. Subtle, passionate, and irritatingly well-read." (New Criterion)

"The immense significance of Burnham’s approach is potential. We can ignore it only at the risk of being disarmed by the future course of events." (Irving Kristol)

James Burnham was an American popular political theorist. Burnham was a radical activist in the 1930s and an important factional leader of the American Trotskyist movement. In later years, as his thinking developed, he left Marxism and turned to conservatism, serving as a public intellectual of the conservative movement. He also wrote regularly for the conservative publication National Review on a variety of topics.

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New World Order started a long time ago

Very informative. A new group with a new mindset has changed the game. Good to know.

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Poor reading marred good book

The voice actor who read this book did a very poor job, after a while it became distracting and made it difficult to follow the actual substance of the work.

There were many mispronounced words, as if he had never encountered them before (Mussolini = 'moo-suh-LEE-nee', not 'moo-SAW-linny'), he can't seem to pronounce T's at the end of some words ('capitalists' always sounded like 'capitalisss').

The whole book is read in a strange, halting cadence, lots of pauses and breaks that made it difficult to understand. It really seemed like he didn't understand the words he was reading and so just went at whatever pace he felt like.

I've enjoyed James Burnham's other works, but I honestly can't tell if this one is any good or not. This audiobook might be better as a refresher if you've already read the text.

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