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 Good..BUT.......................................................... May 2, 2008
techie
31 out of 97 found this review helpful
Zakaria has written a nice book, based upon his somewhat limited perspective. For this oversight, I cannot rate the book higher than 4 stars. While he did provide some interesting insights, he failed to give a full picture of the forces in motion that will most certainly continue to destroy America as we know it.
Zakaria sees globalization as a huge improvement for all people throughout the globe. In this regard, it appears that he is thinking more of the people of Shri Lanka or Haiti, rather than more developed nations. Certainly, those in impoverished nations stand to benefit from this globalization trend. They have little to lose. But for much of the developed world such as America, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the UK, this trend promises to strengthen the 2-class trends we see today.
As globalization strengthens, so will the momentum towards one world government, as seen in Orwell's 1984. This has already happened with the formation of the European Union. Forcing EU laws upon all participant nations is causing many societal and economic problems. In the USA, we are seeing the early stages of plans for the North American Union.
Can you not see how corporations have seized America? Can you not see how they control life and death? Look at gas prices, look at food prices. Understand that corporatization is a strategy that is consistent with globalization. Mega-corporations are partners with their respective national governing bodies.
While globalization might make goods and services more efficient, it will also operate under one power. You wont have a choice to leave if you don't like how you are being governed because every nation will be run the same way. Without individuality and freedom, we all become slaves who will answer to the government.
Preserving each nation's sovereignty is vital. Combining the world into one economic, political, and judicial system will be disastrous and it will surely enslave everyone but the wealthy elite.
In conclusion, as a stand alone the book is a nice read and offers a very optimistic look at the effects of globalization. But what it lacks is a full perspective. I would highly recommend as companions to this book, the following:
This no non-sense, data-backed look at America has already successfully predicted the current economic turmoil, with more to come
America's Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression (Condensed Edition)
Hard-hitting, straight-mouthed views from a man who isn't that stupid afterall (despite being a former wrestler)
Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!
All About the forces behind the New World Order, otherwise known as globalization
The True Story of the Bilderberg Group
If you read these books along with Zakaria's, you will have a full perspective to determine whether the benefits of globalization are worth the risks.
 Even better than his last book April 30, 2008
a reader (Cambridge, MA)
220 out of 246 found this review helpful
A lot of books have been appearing recently about the rise of China and India, the decline of the United States, and so forth. This is the one to read, and the one that will last.
Zakaria's last book was about "The Future of Freedom," a study of liberalism and democracy. This new one--which is even better, I think--is about the shape of the emerging international system. It's called "The Post-American World," but a better title would have been the one he gives his first chapter, "The Rise of the Rest." That's because Zakaria's central thesis is that the world is changing, but the change is largely for the better and caused by the benign development of other power centers, not some collapse or decline of the United States. The biggest challenge for America, he argues, is not terrorism or nuclear proliferation or a rising China, but rather our own ability to adapt successfully to the new environment. He favors confidence and openness rather than insecurity and barriers, and makes a convincing case.
The book has chapters on each of the major international players, and they're really well done: amazingly, he manages to paint a full portrait of, say, China or India that is intelligent, succinct, subtle, and comprehensive all at once. If you want to get a flavor of what the book has to offer, there's an article based on it in the new issue of Foreign Affairs, and there should be another one coming out in Newsweek too, apparently. The man might be a superachieving bigshot, but he sure can write--each page is lively and interesting.
So forget the angry neocons, the wild-eyed optimists, the gloom-and-doom pessimists, and the glib amateurs who don't really know anything. Read this instead, and get insight into what's actually going in the world and what should be done about it. Plus, there's just a ton of fun little nuggets you'll be itching to drop in every conversation you have about anything related.
Where We Are Today and Where We Go From Here April 29, 2008
Eric F. Facer (Centreville, VA)
503 out of 540 found this review helpful
Mr. Zakaria has written a short primer (250+ pages of text) about where the world is today and the role he sees the United States playing in the future. His assessment, for the most part, is fair, balanced and nonpartisan. And though the title of his treatise--The Post-American World--sounds pessimistic, in reality Mr. Zakaria sees the glass half full.
The principal weakness of the book is a product of its brevity: the author paints in broad strokes, providing a sweeping assessment of the dynamic changes that have unfolded on the world scene over the past twenty-five years. This invariably results in some over-generalizations and assessments that are not sufficiently nuanced. For example, in responding to concerns about China's growing power and influence, he quotes several Chinese officials who repeatedly reassure the listener that, notwithstanding its recent advances, China still lags behind the United States in so many areas; consequently, it poses no real threat to America or its neighbors. Instead of taking these sentiments at face value, Mr. Zakaria should remember, as Margaret Macmillan astutely noted in her recent book, "Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World," that the Chinese are the past masters at using self-effacement to lure their adversaries into a state of complacency.
The greatest strengths of the book are explaining to the reader how much the world has changed over the past 25 years (did you know that China now exports more goods and services in a single day than it did in all of 1978?), while illuminating the course corrections the United States needs to make so that it can continue to influence the evolution of globalization. I was surprised to discover that the simple truths taught by Adam Smith have lifted more people above the poverty line in the last 25 years (400 million in China alone) than all the government assistance programs of all the countries in the world since the beginning of time. But I was dismayed to learn that the polices of free trade, liberal immigration, technological change and open government that are the source of this global revolution are no longer warmly received in the United States. Mr. Zakaria notes that in 2007 the Pew Global Attitudes Survey polled citizens in 47 countries for purposes of measuring the extent to which they have positive views about free trade and open markets. Guess where the U.S. came in? Dead last. Mr. Zakaria observes that in the five years the survey has been done, no country has seen as great a drop-off as the United States. It's as if, he says, that for the past sixty years we have extolled the virtues of free markets, immigration, technological change, competition, and democracy, and now that the rest of the world has finally decided to take our advice, "we are becoming suspicious of the very things we have long celebrated." (p. 48).
If you want to look in the mirror and see the warts and disappointments, along with the beauty and promise, of America, read this book. You and our country will be better for it.
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