The Commanding Heights: the Battle Between Government & the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World
by: Daniel Yergin, Joseph Stanislaw
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The "commanding heights," according to Pulitzer Prize-winnerDaniel Yergin and international business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, arethose dominant enterprises and industries that form the higheconomic ground in nations around the globe. In their analysisof the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle BetweenGovernment and the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World, they examine "the individuals, theideas, the conflicts, and the turning points" that are responsible. Andby considering events such as the ongoing Asian monetary crisis,they suggest what the ultimate interconnection of financial marketsmight mean in the future.
Product Description:
The Commanding Heights is about the most powerful political and economic force in the world today -- the epic struggle between government and the marketplace that has, over the last twenty years, turned the world upside down and dramatically transformed our lives. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize joins with a leading expert on the new marketplace to explain the revolution in ideas that is reshaping the modern world. Written with the same sweeping narrative power that made The Prize an enormous success, The Commanding Heights provides the historical perspective, the global vision, and the insight to help us understand the tumult of the past half century.
Trillions of dollars in assets and fundamental political power are changing hands as free markets wrest control from government of the "commanding heights" -- the dominant businesses and industries of the world economy. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw demonstrate that words like "privatization" and "deregulation" are inadequate to describe the enormous upheaval that is unfolding before our eyes. Along with the creation of vast new wealth, the map of the global economy is being redrawn. Indeed, the very structure of society is changing. New markets and new opportunities have brought great new risks as well. How has all this come about? Who are the major figures behind it? How does it affect our lives?
The collapse of the Soviet Union, the awesome rise of China, the awakening of India, economic revival in Latin America, the march toward the European Union -- all are a part of this political and economic revolution. Fiscal realities and financial markets are relentlessly propelling deregulation; achieving a new balance between government and marketplace will be the major political challenge in the coming years. Looking back, the authors describe how the old balance was overturned, and by whom. Looking forward, they explore these questions: Will the new balance prevail? Or does the free market contain the seeds of its own destruction? Will there be a backlash against any excesses of the free market? And finally, The Commanding Heights illuminates the five tests by which the success or failure of all these changes can be measured, and defines the key issues as we enter the twenty-first century.
The Commanding Heightscaptures this revolution in ideas in riveting accounts of the history and the politics of the postwar years and compelling tales of the astute politicians, brilliant thinkers, and tenacious businessmen who brought these changes about. Margaret Thatcher, Donald Reagan, Deng Xiaoping, and Bill Clinton share the stage with the "Minister of Thought" Keith Joseph, the broommaker's son Domingo Cavallo, and Friedrich von Hayek, the Austrian economist who was determined to win the twenty-year "battle of ideas." It is a complex and wide-ranging story, and the authors tell it brilliantly, with a deep understanding of human character, making critically important ideas lucid and accessible. Written with unique access to many of the key players, The Commanding Heights,like no other book, brings us an understanding of the last half of the twentieth century -- and sheds a powerful light on what lies ahead in the twenty-first century.
The "commanding heights," according to Pulitzer Prize-winnerDaniel Yergin and international business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, arethose dominant enterprises and industries that form the higheconomic ground in nations around the globe. In their analysisof the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle BetweenGovernment and the Marketplace That Is Remaking the Modern World, they examine "the individuals, theideas, the conflicts, and the turning points" that are responsible. Andby considering events such as the ongoing Asian monetary crisis,they suggest what the ultimate interconnection of financial marketsmight mean in the future.
Product Description:
The Commanding Heights is about the most powerful political and economic force in the world today -- the epic struggle between government and the marketplace that has, over the last twenty years, turned the world upside down and dramatically transformed our lives. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize joins with a leading expert on the new marketplace to explain the revolution in ideas that is reshaping the modern world. Written with the same sweeping narrative power that made The Prize an enormous success, The Commanding Heights provides the historical perspective, the global vision, and the insight to help us understand the tumult of the past half century.
Trillions of dollars in assets and fundamental political power are changing hands as free markets wrest control from government of the "commanding heights" -- the dominant businesses and industries of the world economy. Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw demonstrate that words like "privatization" and "deregulation" are inadequate to describe the enormous upheaval that is unfolding before our eyes. Along with the creation of vast new wealth, the map of the global economy is being redrawn. Indeed, the very structure of society is changing. New markets and new opportunities have brought great new risks as well. How has all this come about? Who are the major figures behind it? How does it affect our lives?
The collapse of the Soviet Union, the awesome rise of China, the awakening of India, economic revival in Latin America, the march toward the European Union -- all are a part of this political and economic revolution. Fiscal realities and financial markets are relentlessly propelling deregulation; achieving a new balance between government and marketplace will be the major political challenge in the coming years. Looking back, the authors describe how the old balance was overturned, and by whom. Looking forward, they explore these questions: Will the new balance prevail? Or does the free market contain the seeds of its own destruction? Will there be a backlash against any excesses of the free market? And finally, The Commanding Heights illuminates the five tests by which the success or failure of all these changes can be measured, and defines the key issues as we enter the twenty-first century.
The Commanding Heightscaptures this revolution in ideas in riveting accounts of the history and the politics of the postwar years and compelling tales of the astute politicians, brilliant thinkers, and tenacious businessmen who brought these changes about. Margaret Thatcher, Donald Reagan, Deng Xiaoping, and Bill Clinton share the stage with the "Minister of Thought" Keith Joseph, the broommaker's son Domingo Cavallo, and Friedrich von Hayek, the Austrian economist who was determined to win the twenty-year "battle of ideas." It is a complex and wide-ranging story, and the authors tell it brilliantly, with a deep understanding of human character, making critically important ideas lucid and accessible. Written with unique access to many of the key players, The Commanding Heights,like no other book, brings us an understanding of the last half of the twentieth century -- and sheds a powerful light on what lies ahead in the twenty-first century.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Its not over yet
This book documents the world's struggle to find an optimal economic system during the 20th century. It documents the failures of Socialism, Communism,and most other "ism's" and leads the reader to the conclusion that the clear winner is Free Market Capitalism.
The only problem is the book ends shortly after the beginning of the 21st century while the world has continued to struggle and Capitalism itself has been called into question following its near collapse in 2008. A very educational ... Read More
Rating: 
- I learned so much
This shows the links and relationships between the various economic theories and the real changes in the world.It shows, most importantly to our security, the relationship between economies and military defense.It shows how the arms race with USSR ultimately brought down the giant and how economy is critical to national security in ability to maintain a large and well-equipped standing army.It also shows how the interconnection of economies in trade agreements and exports and imports undermines the ... Read More
Rating: - Great for my economic geography
The book got to me quickly and in perfect condition.I have to read it for my economic geography class.It's interesting to get insight on so many influential events that led to how the markets function today.
Rating: - Excellent economic and geopolitical history
The struggle between governments and markets - the central theme of this book - is still very relevant a decade after it was published. An excellent history of economic changes in the 20th century and a must read for those who want to understand how the general direction and makeup of the world economy is directed by political leaders like Thatcher and Deng and by periodic crisis and historical turning points like the 1970s inflation and oil shocks and the fall of communism and the Asian financial crisis.
Rating: - The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World Economy
A book from Dr. L's class that help to shape my belief in freedom in the marketplace. A very good historical overview of the economics of the middle and late 20th Century. There are wonderful historical explanations of the rise of socialism in the west and communism in the east as well as the two grand economic schools in the west which were the products of Keynes and Hayek.
- Its not over yetThis book documents the world's struggle to find an optimal economic system during the 20th century. It documents the failures of Socialism, Communism,and most other "ism's" and leads the reader to the conclusion that the clear winner is Free Market Capitalism.
The only problem is the book ends shortly after the beginning of the 21st century while the world has continued to struggle and Capitalism itself has been called into question following its near collapse in 2008. A very educational ... Read More
- I learned so muchThis shows the links and relationships between the various economic theories and the real changes in the world.It shows, most importantly to our security, the relationship between economies and military defense.It shows how the arms race with USSR ultimately brought down the giant and how economy is critical to national security in ability to maintain a large and well-equipped standing army.It also shows how the interconnection of economies in trade agreements and exports and imports undermines the ... Read More
- Great for my economic geographyThe book got to me quickly and in perfect condition.I have to read it for my economic geography class.It's interesting to get insight on so many influential events that led to how the markets function today.
- Excellent economic and geopolitical historyThe struggle between governments and markets - the central theme of this book - is still very relevant a decade after it was published. An excellent history of economic changes in the 20th century and a must read for those who want to understand how the general direction and makeup of the world economy is directed by political leaders like Thatcher and Deng and by periodic crisis and historical turning points like the 1970s inflation and oil shocks and the fall of communism and the Asian financial crisis.
- The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World EconomyA book from Dr. L's class that help to shape my belief in freedom in the marketplace. A very good historical overview of the economics of the middle and late 20th Century. There are wonderful historical explanations of the rise of socialism in the west and communism in the east as well as the two grand economic schools in the west which were the products of Keynes and Hayek.
