What Is The Predator State?

By James K. Galbraith - August 11, 2008, 11:32AM

For those who are interested in reviews, The Predator State has so far garnered three: Pedro da Costa in Reuters, Roger Gathman in the Austin American-Statesman, and Randall Wray in the Journal of Economic Issues. Kevin Horrigan of the St Louis Post-Dispatch also devoted a column to it, and Tom Frank gave it a mention in the Wall Street Journal. Last Friday and Saturday, it was the top seller on Amazon under "Economic Policy". All of this is not too bad, for a book published less than a week ago.

Gathman takes note of something important. The book originated, in part, as a challenge from my father, delivered in our last conversation, on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 in his room at Mount Auburn hospital. Dad seemed, at the time, to be recovering (slightly) from a bout of pneumonia, and had the energy to ask what I was working on. I told him of some recent lectures on predation. "You should write a short book on corporate predation," he said. "It will make you the leading economic voice of your generation." And then he added his typically modest, typically paternal touch, "If I could do it, I would put you in the shade."