Reviews for The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slavery to the War on Terror

The average rating for The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slavery to the War on Terror based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-01-05 00:00:00 Ronald Heiremans good book though nothing i did not already know it makes a good case against the extreme surveillance we are under at all times as well as pointing out the historical rise of this sort of thing and rooting it in the desire to control dissent and the bodies of the poor. if you like this book you should also read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - which is a fantastic book that delves deeper into the specifically criminal justice side of this. Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century the Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century - also an amazing book that deals specifically with the workplace control (ie. taylorism) aspects of surveillance and control. and lastly Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America which deals with the rise of modern police forces out of the history of slave patrols. parenti discusses all of these to a greater or lesser degree but these three additional book delve deeper into the specifics. and are all worth reading on their own.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-07 00:00:00 Jose Gutierrez Worth reading if only for the chapter on UPS and how every single movement of an employee's job is scripted to ensure "maximum efficiency"- everything from scanning packages to having a driver buckle their seatbelt at the same time as they start the truck.