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Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Sam Faulkner of 

As the full extent of the damage from last year's hurricanes in Puerto Rico continues to become clear, bookseller Sam Faulkner recommends a timely read: "The Battle for Paradise" by Naomi Klein. 

"This book is about the fight for Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the hurricanes," Faulkner said. "On one hand, you have residents of Puerto Rico — folks who live there, folks who farm there — who want to hold on to the land they love and rebuild something better. And you have corporations and forces that are there to privatize the island and turn it into nothing but resorts and export agriculture."

The book is a short read, clocking in at 96 pages, but it explores an idea Klein first raised in "The Shock Doctrine," Faulkner said.

That book "explored the idea that in the wake of disasters, whether they be natural or war or anything, there are forces in the world that are opportunistic enough to come in and take advantage of the confusion and disarray to remake these places in their image and exploit the most profit that they can from them."

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Tracy Mumford

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Bookseller Sam Faulkner recommends a topical read on the competing opinions over how to reshape the hurricane-damaged areas of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico faces a 'Battle for Paradise'

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