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The Post-American World

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Author: Fareed Zakaria
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book

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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 5

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2

ISBN: 039306235X
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.49
EAN: 9780393062359
ASIN: 039306235X

Publication Date: May 5, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Also Available In:

•	Audio CD - The Post-American World
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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
One of our most distinguished thinkers argues that the "rise of the rest" is the great story of our time.

"This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest"—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Zakaria is a pragmatic realist May 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Zakaria begins by giving the reader a dose of reality- America is no longer the leader or innovator in many categories. There are better cell phones, taller buildings and larger casinos in other countries. It seems that America should restructure its policy in a world that is more level with us as opposed to from the pinnacle of technology and democracy.

Zakaria believes that America should embrace its competition and globalization. he again points out that "majority rule" in other countries may be seen as a democratization on a superficial level, but is actually not always a suitable form of government for America's interests.

This work is superbly written and deserves much attention as America chooses its next President.

-Tahir Rahman, author of We Came in Peace for all Mankind: the untold story of the Apollo 11 silicon disc

4 out of 5 stars

Interesting, but Overly Optimistic! May 9, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Zakaria quickly grabs readers' attention by pointing out that the tallest building, largest publicly traded corporation, biggest planes under construction, leading refinery, largest factories, most richly endowed investment fund, largest casino, largest Ferris wheel, movie industry, and shopping mall are no longer American.

He also provides useful perspective with which to view Islamic terrorists - Islam is fractured into numerous groups with a mostly local focus, and nowhere near the scale of impact reached by Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. Meanwhile, killing civilians has sharply reduced support for Al Qaeda. Further, Muslims constitute only 3% of Europe's population and will probably plateau at 5-8%.

What has brought the "rise of the rest?" Zakaria identifies the fall of the U.S.S.R. and its centralized economy, control of hyperinflation (largely thanks to cheap alternatives in India and China), and new technology (cell phones, large ships, the Internet). Goldman, Sachs predicts that China, India, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico will outproduce the Western G-7 by 2040.

Zakaria then goes on with an overview of China and India, and then on to the U.S., where he grossly oversimplifies the impact of globalization. He finds comfort for the U.S. by pointing out that most profits come from development, finance, and marketing - not manufacturing. Unfortunately, the Chinese and others are well aware of this and can be expected to make significant inroads in these areas. Nanotech is envisioned as a future major source of strength for our economy - yet, he fails to also envision China, etc., moving into these areas, or wonder how many people a U.S. nanotechnology field could absorb (not that many).

Another contribution is Zakaria's pointing out that statistics comparing the number of Asian and American engineering graduates are grossly misleading. A large proportion of the Asian graduates are from technical schools (eg. mechanics), and the education of the rest does not hold up to those from good American schools. Again, however, Zakaria is too optimistic about how long it will take Asia to correct this. As for our disappointing comparative high-school test scores, Zakaria alleges these are due to poor minority results; other writers, however, challenge this conclusion with data.

Finally, Zakaria identifies America's failure to fund health care through government sources as another significant problem, and our dysfunctional political system as another major concern.

My major concern is that Zakaria does not address the most important long-term implication of globalization for the U.S. - a severe decline in our standard of living.

5 out of 5 stars

America Must Realize the World is Catching Up May 9, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

One of the biggest problems we have as Americans is the inability to realize that many of our former industries are now the equivalent of blacksmiths --- they are becoming overshadowed by new technologies and inventions from other countries. This isn't bad if we allow new ways of doing things to dominate our economic life but instead we attempt to save the old at the expense of the new.

This book is a great read.

2 out of 5 stars

Friedman with a hint of Huntington May 8, 2008
38 out of 59 found this review helpful

Zakaria is a great writer whose produced a highly readable book. Its impossible to go through the pages without feeling a great surge of hope for what the future isabout to bring, courtesy the miracle of free markets. Liberally annotated with anecdotes.

The problem is that at the heart of it, this is just more of the Thomas Friedman "Lexus and Olive Tree" rising-tide-lifts-all-boats theory with the same prescriptions so beloved by bipartisan Washington since 1988: more trade, more immigration, more outsourcing.

Zakaria's picture omits big pieces of the puzzle: devastated rural America, the loss of those jobs with nothing to replace them: what IS the unemployed American worker supposed to train for? And just who is going to buy all the products that corporations are producing so cheaply in India in China?

And what happens when those stellar immigrants (like Zakaria), or more likely, their children, become disaffected Americans and make up the "bitter" folks who live in ghettos - urban or rural - like dying Appalachian towns or the immigrant high rise projects of Bradford or Marseille?

Zakaria does try to factor in nationalism, but ignores the human implications of people who are going to lose in his Brave New World. And ultimately, his prescriptions, however entertaining and promising, are ultimately just more of the NYT/WSJ op-ed page.

4 out of 5 stars

Good..BUT.......................................................... May 2, 2008
3 out of 80 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.

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