Evil Paradises edited by Mike Davis and Daniel Bertrand Monk is a global guidebook to phantasmagoric but real placesalternate realities being constructed as utopias in a capitalist era unfettered by unions and state regulation These developmentsin cities deserts and in the middle of the seaare worlds where consumption and inequality surpass our worst nightmares Although they read like science fiction the case studies are shockingly real In Dubai where child slavery existed until very recently a gilded archipelago of private islands known as The World is literally being added to the ocean In Medelln and Kabul drug lordsin many ways textbook capitalistsare redefining conspicuous consumption in fortified palaces In Hong Kong Cairo and even the Iranian desert burgeoning communities of nouveaux riches have taken shelter in fantasy Californias complete with Mickey Mouse statues while their maids sleep in rooftop chicken coops Meanwhile Ted Turner rides herd over his bison inmillion acres