The World Is Flat?: A Critical Analysis of New York Times Bestseller by Thomas Friedman
by: Ronald Aronica, Mtetwa Ramdoo
List Price: $24.95
as of 09/05/2010 18:14 EDT
Amazon.com's Price: $18.21
You Save: $6.74 (27%)as of 09/05/2010 18:14 EDT
Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item.
See More Details
See More Details
Product Description:
Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution, and is threatening to hollow out America's middle class.
_______________________________________
Millions of Americans are preoccupied with the outsourcing of American jobs and the threat of global economic competition. From boardrooms to classrooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere --including a best-selling book by a famous journalist. However, Thomas Friedman's runaway bestseller, The World is Flat, is dangerous. Friedman makes "arguments by assertion," assertions based not on documented facts, but on stories from friends and elite CEOs he visits --not even one footnote reference. Yet his book influences business and government leaders around the globe. By what it leaves out, it does nothing more than misinform the American people and our leaders.
Aronica and Ramdoo show that the world isn't flat; it's tilted in favor of unfettered global corporations that exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond. This concise monograph brings clarity to many of Friedman's misconceptions, and explores nine key issues that Friedman largely ignores, including the hollowing out of America's debt-ridden middle class. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization,the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.
Refreshingly, you can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman's almost 600 pages of ill-informed, grandiloquent prose and bafflegab.
Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution, and is threatening to hollow out America's middle class.
_______________________________________
Millions of Americans are preoccupied with the outsourcing of American jobs and the threat of global economic competition. From boardrooms to classrooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere --including a best-selling book by a famous journalist. However, Thomas Friedman's runaway bestseller, The World is Flat, is dangerous. Friedman makes "arguments by assertion," assertions based not on documented facts, but on stories from friends and elite CEOs he visits --not even one footnote reference. Yet his book influences business and government leaders around the globe. By what it leaves out, it does nothing more than misinform the American people and our leaders.
Aronica and Ramdoo show that the world isn't flat; it's tilted in favor of unfettered global corporations that exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond. This concise monograph brings clarity to many of Friedman's misconceptions, and explores nine key issues that Friedman largely ignores, including the hollowing out of America's debt-ridden middle class. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization,the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.
Refreshingly, you can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman's almost 600 pages of ill-informed, grandiloquent prose and bafflegab.
Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category:
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Globalization - What It Really Means
The quote "The notion of `pure competition,' a notion often implied in free trader
Friedman's book, never has been a reality. Actually, there is very little `free' in today's free trade
and equally little `fair' with free trade" has helped me with thinking about globalization very
much. I have noticed that many people, myself included, have used the word "globalization"
in various conversations and papers and other things without really knowing what it means, just
as ... Read More
Rating:
- There are better options
This book is aimed as a rebuttle of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. The book opens with negative exerpts of 23 review of Friedman's book. 10 of them are by Amazon reviewers which I found ironic since one of their chief criticisms of TWiF is that it lacks academic rigour.While I get great value from Amazon reviews, I have my doubts that the authors checked the academic qualifications of the Amazon reviewers.
I am not sure who Aronica or Ramdoo are and what qualifies them to ... Read More
Rating:
- With enemies like this, who needs friends?
Thomas Friedman is a poor excuse for a 21st century sage.Aronica and Ramdoo correctly point to his poor method, overly glib and too-self-satisfied anecdotes and annoying neologisms... and then they proceed to commit so many of the very same crimes against reason and serious research in their own "contribution" to our field of political economy.
Knowing, as I do, so many truly gifted scholars who will reach and influence fewer in their entire careers than will Friedman will in any given ... Read More
Rating: - Read Collapse by Jared Diamond instead
I really wanted to like this book since my friends are so critical of Thomas Friedman's politically incorrect views, but I enjoyed the World is Flat a heck of a lot more than this book. It was nit picky and whiny. It's two redeeming features were the description of farmers in India and their inability to cope with changes brought on by multi-nationals' actions in the field of agriculture and the list of sources at the end of the book. So what if Thomas Friedman golfs and speaks to CEOs! I don't, so hearing ... Read More
Rating:
- What do economists think?
We've used this book in my globalization course, and it certainly sparked the discussion on this crucial subject. Don't read Friedman without also reading this book.
- Globalization - What It Really MeansThe quote "The notion of `pure competition,' a notion often implied in free trader
Friedman's book, never has been a reality. Actually, there is very little `free' in today's free trade
and equally little `fair' with free trade" has helped me with thinking about globalization very
much. I have noticed that many people, myself included, have used the word "globalization"
in various conversations and papers and other things without really knowing what it means, just
as ... Read More
Rating:
- There are better optionsThis book is aimed as a rebuttle of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. The book opens with negative exerpts of 23 review of Friedman's book. 10 of them are by Amazon reviewers which I found ironic since one of their chief criticisms of TWiF is that it lacks academic rigour.While I get great value from Amazon reviews, I have my doubts that the authors checked the academic qualifications of the Amazon reviewers.
I am not sure who Aronica or Ramdoo are and what qualifies them to ... Read More
Rating:
- With enemies like this, who needs friends?Thomas Friedman is a poor excuse for a 21st century sage.Aronica and Ramdoo correctly point to his poor method, overly glib and too-self-satisfied anecdotes and annoying neologisms... and then they proceed to commit so many of the very same crimes against reason and serious research in their own "contribution" to our field of political economy.
Knowing, as I do, so many truly gifted scholars who will reach and influence fewer in their entire careers than will Friedman will in any given ... Read More
Rating:
- Read Collapse by Jared Diamond insteadI really wanted to like this book since my friends are so critical of Thomas Friedman's politically incorrect views, but I enjoyed the World is Flat a heck of a lot more than this book. It was nit picky and whiny. It's two redeeming features were the description of farmers in India and their inability to cope with changes brought on by multi-nationals' actions in the field of agriculture and the list of sources at the end of the book. So what if Thomas Friedman golfs and speaks to CEOs! I don't, so hearing ... Read More
Rating:
- What do economists think?We've used this book in my globalization course, and it certainly sparked the discussion on this crucial subject. Don't read Friedman without also reading this book.
