About this title: The Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign-affairs columnist for the New York Times examines how globalization has changed the world economy. He examines the benefits of free-market capitalism, and the need to balance local forces (religious, national, and cultural) with international forces. Friedman's book is the result of his unique access to world leaders in business and government. A New York Times Notable Book for 1999.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780385499347ISBN:0385499345
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 490 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Front cover curled. Some dirt spots. read more
"Thomas Friedman is hands down the resonant expert on globalization. He is also the most entertaining in describing it. I read his book The World is Flat first (almost out of order from his writings), this is my second book of his I have read. I will be re-reading The World is Flat again but after I read his next book Longitudes and Attitudes. Next on my list is latest Hot, Flat and Crowded. The reason I like him so much is his colorful ways to describe what is going on and the references he uses to paint analogies and pictures. Being that he is Foreign Affairs columnist for the New York Times for 20 years now certainly gives him credence. Anybody interested in understanding the global economy must read Friedman. So far the World is Flat is his best book."
""Half the world seemed to be emerging from the Cold War intent on building a better Lexus...And half the world - sometimes half the same country, sometimes half the same person - was still caught up in the fight over who owns which olive tree."
This book is a great pre-cursor to "The World is Flat" which outdoes Friedman's more recent book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded." This book is a good introduction to globalization, but not as good (or as interesting) as The World is Flat. But, where as The World is Flat relies more on storytelling and ten examples to make Friedman's point, the Lexus and the Olive tree gives us a historical and cultural context for how and why globalization is happening (or, more accurately, has happened). It's stories are still interesting, but as is the case with so many "contemporary" books - the more contemporary are, the more quickly they become out of date.
A favorite quote (p. 305):
"It is O.K. for Disney World to have a Chinese pavilion and a French pavilion and a Mexican pavilion. But God save us from a world where the Chinese pavilion at Disney World is our only remembrance of what China was, and where the Animal Kingdom at Disney World is our only remembrance of what the jungle once was, and where the Rain Forest Cafe is the only rain forest you or your kids will ever see.""
"This book by Thomas Friedman is about globalization and how it affects us. Basically, Friedman believes that Globalization, in sum total, is good for the world, notwithstanding its negative effects. Friedman's primary thesis is that the cold war politics conditioned the behavior of nation states till 1990. Now, it is 'Globalization' and its inexorable movement forward that shapes nations and their behavior internally as well as one another. Friedman introduces the term 'the Electronic herd' in explaining his theories. The Electronic Herd has two parts to it - the Short horn and the Long horn. The Short horn refers to currency traders; mutual, pension and hedge funds; insurance companies or bank trading rooms. They are known as short-horn cattle because they move money around the world, often on a very short-term basis. Long-horn cattle represents the large multi-national corporations e.g. General Electric, General Motors, IBM, Intel, Siemens etc, which increasingly invest in or move production to foreign countries. They are known as long-horn cattle because they have to make long term commitments when investing. It is important for nation states to keep the Herd satisfied through transparency, responsible fiscal behavior and legitimate practices as otherwise they will take their money away from you and invest it where these features are represented better. The degrees of freedom for adventurism of nation states are reduced because their economy would be in difficulties if the Herd gives them a bad rating due to irresponsible policies. Friedman cites examples from the South-East Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Also, the Herd frowns against war and its dislocating effects. So, Friedman believes that Globalization has been good in reducing violent conflicts around the world. Only countries which do not plug into Globalization have the freedom to amke conflict and reap its consequences. he cites examples of N.Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc. Friedman is not naive. He realizes that Globalization has its bad effects on good things in traditional societies. His Lexua is an euphemism for Globalization and the 'Olive tree' for tradition. He discusses the challenges posed by Globalization to valuable traditions and the importance of old cultures in keeping to them on the face of the onslaught from Globalization. He also devotes many chapters on the unique role the US can play to harness it all. Overall, the argument is compelling and well-reasoned. People who are deadly opposed to Globalization would trash many of his arguments. But, as one coming from India and living in the US, I can relate to the arguments in the book and find validity in them. The book is well-written and it is an easy read, just like his other books on the subject. I would recommend the book strongly for one interested in the subject."
"Drawing on his experience as a foreign correspondent, Tomas Friedman gives a comprehensive view of the modern worlds state of globalization covering every conceivable angle from multi-national corporate strategy, effects on smaller states as they battle between keeping up with the world and not sacrificing their culture, to how modern capitalism is effected by the integration of state intertwining technology. What I love about Friedman is how unbiased his assessment is. Friedman isn't trying to say whether globalization is "bad" or "good", he's much more interested with journalistically presenting every side of the argument to why and who it works for and to who and why it doesn't.
The book can get a little dense in sections, but Friedman does sprinkle in a lot of life antic-dotes that ground the often dense material and reminds you that the systems of development he's talking about are effecting real human beings.
I found this book to be approachable and intriguing. I would recommend it to anyone, with the small warning that they do need to know what they're getting into, and they are getting into a book with dense political and economic subject matter."
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