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|  | Author: Fareed Zakaria
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $7.00
as of 11/23/2009 11:37 CST details
You Save: $8.95 (56%)
New (45) Used (36) from $6.82
Seller: William Taratsas
Rating:  258 reviews
Sales Rank: 2422
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Printing
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0393334805
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.49
EAN: 9780393334807
ASIN: 0393334805
Publication Date: May 4, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 258
 Great Book September 17, 2009
Rubidot (Bay Area, CA)
This is one of my textbooks for my International Relations course, and turned out to be one of the reasons I'm enjoying this course so much. Even though I've previously had no interest in politics, I found this book very interesting and enlightening. Zakaria's observations make sense and seem accurate.
Just Brilliant! September 15, 2009
Rene Dietrich Trigo (PR)
A must read for social sciences students and anyone interested in learning global politics and economic trends. He shares a non-mainstream view of global economy and hits you with good statistics and research. He is a very talented professional.
Good Overview of the World Today and Tomorrow September 14, 2009
Scandalous Sanity (Texas)
Fareed Zakaria takes stock of the present and the future in his book The Post-American World. Zakaria chronicles the decline of Western influence, and America's role in the world to come. There are some who have painted this book as sensationalist and others have called it anti-American. The former obviously didn't grasp the concept of the book and the latter definitely didn't read it.
The first few chapters of the book deal with the affluence of America and the culture that has been created with its arrival, and the eroding influence that Western culture is having on the world today. He cites a parallel example in the decline of the British empire, but is careful to point out that the British empire and the American nation have little in common, and that America's struggling economy is better today than Britain's ever was.
He also devotes chapters to the rise of China and India, giving the details of their economies and political structure. He paints a picture of the future based on current trends and is especially knowledgeable of India, his home country.
The final two chapters focus on America's strengths and the goals it needs to set if it is to succeed in the coming world. The two main ideas are that America's system of economics and government is doing just fine, but the political system needs an overall, and that while America's slice of the pie will get smaller, it will still be more than every other country in the world.
Zakaria uses statistics and trends to show what America's place will be in the future global market, and points out some areas of weaknesses that need to improve in our culture. I think this book should be required reading for any teacher. The only negative I have about it is that the book's hypothesis isn't exactly earth-shattering. But the data contained within makes it an interesting read.
The Post American World September 13, 2009
Wallace D. Hollinger
This should be a must read for every government offical and congressional politician. It describes in some detail how the rest of the world is working to catch up to America.
 So money and the U.S.A. are the measure of all things? (Once again!) September 12, 2009
Fernando Fernández Aransay (Venturada, Madrid Spain)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I got the book as a present and after warm recommendation by some U.S.A. and European friends. What a disappointment!
Although Mr. Zakaria seems to willingly accept that "there will be life" after the U.S.A. (this seems to be the bottom line of his book, beginning by its own title) he chooses to forget that there has also been life before and outside the U.S.A., and not only the British Empire. Sad and poor for an educated journalist like Mr. Zakaria to make such a choice. Or wait, maybe it is not a choice, maybe it is even worse: maybe Mr. Zakaria has been forging his personal understanding of the world on the works of P. Kennedy, S. Hutington, D. Landes and the likes. Now I understand: we witness the hundredth show of anglosaxon shortsightedness. Worse still: of U.S.A. myopia! Worse still: of egolatry in somebody of Indian background and purported international formation!!
So Mr. Zakaria would have us believe that, all things weighed, civilization (measured by money) was created by the English and developed by the U.S.A. (please do not fall on the so sadly common mind trap of equalling the U.S.A. to America, or calling the U.S.A. citizens simply americans. Peruvians, Mexicans, Cubans, they are also americans! The former is a powerful insight of the way most U.S.A. leaders see the world). It is such a poor concept and absolute lack of perspective that I will not even bother to fight it here.
So, alright Mr. Zakaria, money is it, capitalism is it, consumism is it. So Mr. Zakaria claims that free markets will save the world, that China and India and the rest will only "stand up" by allowing western capitalism and industrialization take over completely, regardless of any political or social approach.
Well, so good for Mr. Zakaria, but please leave me aside. I would not like my country to go backwards and turn into a land where in 2009 there is no universal health care, where death penalty not only exists but is commonly applied, where there is less than a week of yearly holidays for the workers, where any madman can buy (and use) an automatic gun at will, where wars are waged to keep the cost of petrol low because most cities lack a decent public transport system, where political decisions are just dictated by balance sheets, where international law is often and overtly disdained and so forth.
The U.S.A. are a great country and I am not so blind as to deny it, many good things have come (and still do come) from there, also from the anglosaxons in general, but I'd be plainly fooling myself were I to believe that this book proves that things are starting to shift in the minds of some of the leaders of the U.S.A. (certainly not in those of the fifty percent of the members of its Senate that have never even bothered to have a passport ,- what for?). What a pity of a book.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 258
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