When scholars write the history of the world twenty years
from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004,"
what will they say was the most crucial development? The
attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war?
Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed
India, China, and so many other countries to become part of
the global supply chain for services and manufacturing,
creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of
the world's two biggest nations, giving them a huge new
stake in the success of globalization? And with
this "flattening" of the globe, which requires us to run
faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too
small and too fast for human beings and their political
systems to adjust in a stable manner?
In this brilliant new book, the award-winning New York
Times columnist Thomas Friedman demystifies the brave new
world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often
bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With
his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy
and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening
of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first
century; what it means to countries, companies,
communities, and individuals; and how governments and
societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the
timely and essential update on globalization, its successes
and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most
respected journalists.