Reviews for This can't wait

The average rating for This can't wait based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-23 00:00:00 Kimberly Gygi This is a silly book. The main premise of the book is that guilds are the fundamental, enduring form of European political organization. To prove this, Black claims that there's continuity of something called "civil society" from the middle ages to now. He claims this civil society is primarily concerned with individual liberty, and the protection of personal property. Once he's set up this vague, academic category, he can show how groups, whether guilds, professional associations, corporations, or labor unions, all advocate for their own collective self-interest. Groups advocating for their own ends doesn't seem like it takes any continuity of thought, and Black's arguments are essentially a keyword search from texts dating back to the 14th century. The author ignores any substantive difference between medieval guilds and modern multinational conglomerates, and glosses over all the interesting effects the different kinds of economic organizations have had on their members' lives. He gives one sentence to the amazing reality that there's evidence medieval guilds could stop a member from marrying a particular woman they deemed unsuitable. He spends entire chapters on thinkers he admits had absolutely no effect or connection to real working people. I picked up this book because I was hoping to find something about how guilds influenced society, and found a disconnected philosophical history.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-05-23 00:00:00 Giuseppina Gatta 8.95