Editorial Review

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Reviews (822)

Friedman's history is great, but "Flat" has its drawbacks
Friedman's substantial, "The World Is Flat" is a summary of the dramatic changes in the economy of the world in the first few years of the 21st century.The book is full of great stories from all over the world that shows how, while the geography of our planet hasn't changed, that geography is becoming less and less an obstacle for business.The author shows, in a fairly amusing way, how certain dates in history (e.g. 11/9/89 - When the Walls Came Down and the Windows Went Up) represent major milestones in the progress to a flat world.These events, called flatteners, helped usher in the new globalization (version 3.0), which is exploding and resulting in a new world economy where India and China are on the same production and creative level as the United States.
The future is here, and it is starting to be evenly distributed
I have to admit I only read this book based on the fact it was topping all the best seller lists. I found it to be a worth while read. Even though I follow technology closely, I wasn't really aware of some of the points that the author made, so hopefully many will pick up something from this book. Many parts of the book I had difficulties relating to, but the new insights it provided were defently worth it.

How to destroy the United States 101 - What the book should be titled
It's a shame that US leaders have based a lot of its US policies on this book.It's like they want to make the US North Mexico or some Third World country. Really it's traitorous.
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Subjects:  1. Contemporary Politics    2. Diffusion of innovations    3. Economic aspects    4. Globalization    5. Information society    6. Political Science    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics/International Relations   

Editorial Review

Noam Chomsky is considered the father of modern linguistics. In this richly detailed criticism of American foreign policy, he seeks to redefine many of the terms commonly used in the ongoing American war on terrorism. Surveying U.S. actions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Turkey, the Far East and elsewhere over the past half a century along with the modern American war in Iraq, Chomsky indicates that America is just as much a terrorist state as any other government or rogue organization. George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq drew worldwide criticism, in part because it seemed to present a new philosophy of pre-emptive war and an appearance of global empire building. But according to Chomsky, such has been the operating philosophy of American foreign policy for decades. Opponents of the Bush administration's tactics consistently point out how the American government supported Saddam Hussein for many years prior to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait (pictures of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand are easy to come by) as a means of pointing out how the United States is happy to fund despots when it's in American interests. But Chomsky, armed with extensive historical notation, takes this notion further, arguing how the repression of other nations' citizenry is, in fact, the very reason Americans support certain foreign leaders. The charges made throughout the book are severe, as are the dire consequences he posits if current trends are not reversed, and Chomsky is no more likely to make friends or gain supporters from the mainstream now than he's ever been. But Read more

Reviews (220)

Chomsky for President
This is the most lucid, convincing and rightfully scathing interpretation of American foreign policy I've ever read. Absolutely brilliant.

First Chomsky political book read
I was one of apparently many who went to the Amazon website to look for Chomsky's book, once Chavez recommended it. I am familiar with Chomsky's reputation as a prolific writer of books on politics. I've tried to plow through some of his works on linguistics. Not easy, although the sense one gets as a non-scholar is that he is onto something original in those works.
I have more to say if I just had more room!!
I have always wondered about Professor Chomsky's writings. He has always been described as mean-spirited and anti-American by the right. I finally got an opportunity to read his book Hegemony or Survival. I was surprised at how readable it was; I expected it to be overly verbose. I was also surprised that I actually agreed with some of what he had to say, particularly about Iraq. He certainly is correct that the US led invasion of Iraq was a fantastic opportunity for Bin Ladin to stir up anti-US sentiment and attract members to his terrorist organization. I don't think you have to be a professor to see that though. Although some have charged Chomsky with being sympathetic to terrorists, I failed to see this. He condemns terrorism but accuses the US of creating an atmosphere that is conducive to the growth of terrorist organizations.
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Subjects:  1. 2001-    2. 20th century    3. Foreign relations    4. Globalization    5. Imperialism    6. International Relations - General    7. Intervention (International law)    8. Political Ideologies - General    9. Political Science    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Politics/International Relations    12. U.S. Foreign Relations    13. Unilateral acts (International law)    14. United States    15. International relations    16. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    17. Political Science / Globalization   

Reviews (3)

Very Helpful in Understanding Globalization
Most discussion of globalization consists of uninformed opinion that is not worth listening to or reading.Not so with "Making Globalization Work" - the author is a Nobel prize-winner in economics and has worked at the IMF and the White House.He provides an excellent summary of the current problems with globalization, and a number of suggestions for improvement.
Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution
Globalization is an irreversable trend, and the current form of it led by transnational corporations that use their lobbies to create unfair trade agreements will drive us to the brink. Many have been misinformed about globalization by reading Thomas Friedman's pean to corporate globalization, a runaway bestseller.
A well-informed and thought-provoking work
In this book, Stiglitz gave his advices on how to make globalization work for most of the population on earth:how the world - especially the developing countries - can reap the enormous benefits of globalization while containing the equally enormous problems -- problems well documented in his previous book "Globalization and Its Discontents" - that globalization creates.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Economic aspects    4. Economics - General    5. Globalization    6. International - General    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Business & Economics / Economics / General    9. Miscellaneous Items    10. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT   

Reviews (18)

"Lack of feedback is one of the most critical flaws in existing aid." (Worthy of 4 stars if not for author's quirks--see below.)
JFK declared in 1961 that "existing foreign aid programs and concepts are largely unsatisfactory." He then stated his intention "during this coming decade of development to achieve a decisive turnaround in the fate of the less-developed world, looking toward the ultimate day...when foreign aid will no longer be needed."45 years on innumerable people all over the globe are wondering what went wrong. The author of this book, an economist formerly with the World Bank, thinks he has an answer.In his view, "the legend that inspired foreign aid in the 1950s is the same legend that inspires foreign aid today"---"that the poorest countries are in a poverty trap...from which they cannot emerge without an aid-financed Big Push."Western elitist balderdash, William Easterly, calls this notion; arguing that the economical and political complexity of any society "dooms any attempt to achieve the end of poverty through a plan," adding that "no rich society has ended poverty in this way."How then is the West supposed to wipe out hunger, malaria, AIDS, TB, illiteracy, etc. within upwards of a 3,4, or 5 dozen countries around the world, all within a ten or fifteen years, or within any specific time frame.Utopian social engineering has not, to say the least, been particularly successful in living up to its rhetoric.It ought not be a revelation, thus, that "a big problem with foreign aid has been its aspiration to a utopian blue-print to fix the world's complex problems."How many cycles of "idealism, high expectations, disappointing results, cynical backbash" ought it take for us to conclude that some things just cannot be accomplished by planning fiat.It doesn't help matters, either, that "in the typical utopian program, everything is done at once and it is impossible to learn what works and what doesn't."
Masterful combination of rigorous analysis and real-life experience
In The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, William Easterly does a masterful job of taking the complex topics of international development and aid and making them understandable and accessible to the uninitiated.He does this not through dumbing-down the subject, patronizing his reader, or oversimplification, but through effectively lifting the shrouds of jargon, pretentiousness and mystification that drape most academic and international organization publications.Easterly seems to take delight at poking fun at the reams of incomprehensible babble and acronyms that spew out of most official documents.
This should be required reading, along with Collision and Collusion, the Strange Case of Western Aid for Eastern Europe
I spent 5 years doing a private development project. What I learned is exactly what Easterly says and more.
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Subjects:  1. Developing countries    2. Economic assistance    3. International Relations - General    4. Nonprofit Organizations & Charities    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Poverty    7. Prevention    8. Social Science    9. Sociology    10. Third World Development    11. Social Science / Poverty   

Subjects:  1. Environmental Science    2. General    3. Geography    4. Globalization    5. Political Science    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Travel - General    8. Regional geography    9. Science / Geography   

Editorial Review

Celebrated economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. To do this, Sachs proposes nine specific steps, which he explains in great detail in Read more

Reviews (14)

At least it got people talking about global economics...
I really wanted to love this book. It came strongly recommended by a good friend who is very interested in development work.Whenever I read a review I always try and figure out what angle the reviewer is coming from, so for the record I'm deeply interested in development work and I have a background in economics and environmental science, but mostly I'm just really well read.
why we lost the poor
The End of Poverty is an excellent book. It shows how economic thinking can provide a better wealth situation in the underdeveloped world. Jeffrey Sachs describes his last twenty years on development economics. He is the driving force behind the mayor developments in Bolivia and Poland. The book contains his experiences in Bolivia, Poland and Russia. If you introduce economic measures in these countries you can take a big step to let the people help themselves. But if you go to Africa, it seams that these measures are really not the first aid you can give them.
Historic Opportunity for Our Generation
Through clear illustrations and calculations, Jeffrey Sachs lays out a very optimistic and compelling argument that extreme poverty can be ended within our generation. Two major requirements of this plan are the rich nation's commitment to debt relief and their honoring of their promises to dedicate a meager 0.7% of GNP to Official Development Assistance (ODA). If properly invested in infrastructure, health, and education (a topic well covered in the book), these funds could put the extremely poor back on the economic ladder towards growth and development. Sachs sites numerous success stories such as the Marshall Plan and the eradication of African River Blindness and Smallpox where sufficient funding and dedication successfully accomplished development objectives.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Developing countries    3. Development - Economic Development    4. Economic assistance    5. Economic conditions    6. Economics - General    7. Economics Of Developing Countries    8. Poverty    9. Public Policy - Economic Policy    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Third World Development    13. Business & Economics / Economic Conditions   

Reviews (17)

An important and useful text for understanding trade theory
Krugman and Obstfeld, two world renowned international economists, provide a full detailed analysis and examples for the basis of trade among nations. It is relatively straightforward to comprehend for both economists and noneconomists. International trade is an important component of economic policy for the growth and development of countries. This book examines various theoretical trade models and provides real world examples of policy formulation and their impact. The authors do not take any political positions, thus making their analysis a purely objective, or positive study.
Krugman
Some complicated theories explained in a way that can be understood.
Not What I've Come to Expect from Krugman
First off, even if you totally discount the rest of my review, buy the low price international version of this book.On the March 10, 2005 episode of the daily show Krugman elucidated his feelings quite clearly."The real money is in textbooks. With other books, people need to decide whether to buy them or not. Students have to buy textbooks."Thanks Paul.I think I'm being charitable when I say that at $125 this book is a ripoff.It isn't even full color.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Globalization    3. International - Economics    4. International economic relatio    5. International economic relations    6. International finance    7. Political Science    8. Politics/International Relations    9. Economic theory & philosophy    10. Political Science / Globalization   

Editorial Review

The global power of soccer might be a little hard for Americans, living in a country that views the game with the same skepticism used for the metric system and the threat of killer bees, to grasp fully. But in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, soccer is not merely a pastime but often an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans. New Republic editor Franklin Foer, a lifelong devotee of soccer dating from his own inept youth playing days to an adulthood of obsessive fandom, examines soccer's role in various cultures as a means of examining the reach of globalization. Foer's approach is long on soccer reportage, providing extensive history and fascinating interviews on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry and the inner workings of AC Milan, and light on direct discussion of issues like world trade and the exportation of Western culture. But by creating such a compelling narrative of soccer around the planet, Foer draws the reader into these sport-mad societies, and subtly provides the explanations he promises in chapters with titles like "How Soccer Explains the New Oligarchs", "How Soccer Explains Islam's Hope", and "How Soccer Explains the Sentimental Hooligan." Foer's own passion for the game gives his book an infectious energy but still pales in comparison to the religious fervor of his subjects. His portraits of legendary hooligans in Serbia and Britain, in particular, make the most die-hard roughneck New York Yankees fan look like a choirboy in comparison. Beyond the thugs, Foer also profiles Nigerian players living in the Ukraine, Iranian women struggling against strict edicts to attend matches, and the parallel worlds of Brazilian soccer and politics from which Pele emerged and returned. Foer posits that globalization has eliminated neither local cultural identities nor violent hatred among fans of rival teams, and it has not washed out local businesses in a sea of corporate wealth nor has it quelled rampant local corruption. Readers with an interest in international economics are sure to like Read more

Reviews (59)

Please stay out of the field...!!!
This book is a bigotry masqueraded behind the veil of a "scholarly work." Every rule of rigorous work has been violated in this piece of work building on the darkest but forever smallest side of "soccer." Wasting this great opportunity to reveal the multi-dimensional power of the game the author invests his bitterness against the sport page-after-page. A sweet revenge for "soccer" rejecting him in his early age? Well... my advise to the author... keep on running away from the ball sir... and please stay away from it!!! You are RUINING THE GAME!!!

Insightful
This is a very insightful book. I have been a big soccer fan all my life and went to hundreds of games when I still lived in Europe, but this book contains many facts I had never heard of. Some chapters are better and more fascinating than others and the link of soccer to globalization seems to be artificial at times. I found the thoughts on soccer in the U.S. (last chapter) especially interesting.
Perhaps the appeal of soccer is that, for the moment, it exists in the happy realm between intelligence and pure fandom
Franklin Foer is a staff writer at the New Republic and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many others...In his book, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization: Soccer has become a favorite pastime of the American intellectual. What brought soccer to the smart set? Well, one could simply argue that soccer's time had come. But while much of soccer-love may come from nostalgia, a bit of it feels like it is self-styled. It's fair to assume that a great many of the new wave of soccer fans came to the sport in their teens and 20s--the lack of satellite TV and the Internet making the international game difficult to follow until then. Unlike those who had baseball thrust upon them since birth and never paused to adequately consider the implications, soccer fans were liable to ask themselves, What would being a soccer fan say about me? Well, it would say a lot of things, many of them flattering. Taking an interest in soccer indicates a certain cosmopolitanism; the game is an international one. A rooting interest in a British club like Arsenal might indicate Anglophilia, which never hurts in polite society. Soccer-love also says--and this is perhaps most important--that you reject the overweening hype and made-for-TV packaging that surrounds American sports for something that, in theory, approaches a purer experience. "If you're an intellectual, the kitsch that shrouds, say, football is almost intolerable," says Franklin Foer. "If you look at a European soccer crowd, all the shouting is coming organically from the crowd itself--that's so much more appealing." Soccer, largely divorced from shrieking announcers and Jumbotrons, feels more like an artistic endeavor than a television show. In a weak moment, the soccer intellectual might even admit that the sport's stars are aspirational male role models. Most soccer players are not human grotesqueries like NFL stars or attenuated beanpoles like NBA players. They're possessed of attainable physiques, strong and compact--the kind that might impress intellectuals and the women who love them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Globalization    3. Popular Culture - General    4. Soccer    5. Sociology Of Sports    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Sports & Recreation / General   

Reviews (9)

The Great Turning
In The Great Turning, From Empire to Earth Community, author David Korten hits on the rarely discussed conflict facing Humankind in the 21st Century, the struggle between the forces of materialism and the forces of spirituality. Although David does not define it as such, he expresses it in his excellent analysis of the Five Orders of Human Consciousness.
"We are the ones we have been waiting for." ~ David Korten
Book Review:
Deep insight and direction for hope
David Korten has one of today's most experienced and compelling voices on the big picture: how we got ourselves into the current state of the world and how we must evolve and alter our frame of thinking to survive and thrive together on this planet. I couldn't wait to read the book and am just beginning a second read to absorb even more. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Globalization    2. International cooperation    3. Political Science    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Politics/International Relations    6. Social ethics    7. Sustainable development    8. International business    9. Political Science / Globalization   

Reviews (1)

Totally dissatisfied
I'm really unhappy with both the book and the services provided that come with the book. This has several reasons of which I'd like to point out a few here (though I have to note that I only read the second part - the one about international monetary policy):
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Subjects:  1. Globalization    2. Political Science    3. Politics / Current Events    4. Politics/International Relations    5. International economics    6. Political Science / Globalization   

Editorial Review

Illicit activities are exploding worldwide. The onslaught of globalization has unleashed a tidal wave of bad stuff--everything from arms trafficking, human smuggling, and money laundering to music bootlegging. Here is the dark side of globalization: the mushrooming underground economy. Moisés Naím explores this murky world in his book Read more

Reviews (15)

No Footnotes
I'm about a third of the way through the book; very provocative so far.Unfortunately, my copy has no footnotes.The notes are at the end of the chapters as you'd expect, but the numbers they reference are not in the text.Tends to complicate a serious academic reading.

A riposte to free market cheerleaders
"Illicit" by Moises Naim is a good primer on the underground economy. Mr. Naim's experience as an Editor at Foreign Policy magazine appears to have helped the author hone his skills at synthesizing an impressive quantity of third-party research to support his thesis. It is also evident that Mr. Naim's discussions with numerous high-level personal and professional contacts around the world have helped him reflect on the topic at length, leading him to offer many pages of thoughtful critique and analysis. The end result is a balanced and nuanced book that makes a valuable contribution to our understanding about an increasingly urgent and worrisome problem.
Same Business Savy/Muscle As Wal-Mart
"In todays labyrinthine routings of contraband across multiple contients, front companies are easy to set up, dozens in order to blur one's trace.As a result intermediaries in international commerce of illicit products, services , & humans have increased their profile and their profits. It is the brokers who control today's illicit markets, set the deals, & make the big money".This is a small snipet of the market place. The markets are just markets/ legal or illegal.Governments decide the righteousness of them.In other words: what is in a true market: cent$, can now be dollar$.It is the magic of a legalized highway robbery called the stroke a pen.Of course its a no brainer that governmemnts are getting greased to hell and back. Through corporate(legal/illegal) sugar daddys or just down and dity in your face corruption. It has penetrated deeply into the private sector, politics, and governments of today. It is penetrating markets deeper, plus horizontally and vertically, and in direct proportion to their profits that control crucial decisions within current national governments (U.S. included). In some cases the national interests are completely aligned with illegal profits. A must read for understanding the a whole picture the global economy. It is an entertaining and informative read. Welcome to globalization. And of course that is on either side of the border: because they own both sides! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Criminology    2. Criminology (Specific As