false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178030532m/750761.jpg 750761 20 One day in 1992, Thomas Friedman toured a Lexus factory in Japan and marveled at the robots that put the luxury cars together. That evening, as he ate sushi on a Japanese bullet train, he read a story about yet another Middle East squabble between Palestinians and Israelis. And it hit him: Half the world was lusting after those Lexuses, or at least the brilliant technology that made them possible, and the other half was fighting over who owned which olive tree.<p> Friedman, the well-traveled <I>New York Times</I> foreign-affairs columnist, peppers <I>The Lexus and the Olive Tree</I> with stories that illustrate his central theme: that globalization--the Lexus--is the central organizing principle of the post-cold war world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding onto what has traditionally mattered to them--the olive tree.<p> Problem is, few of us understand what exactly globalization means. As Friedman sees it, the concept, at first glance, is all about American hegemony, about Disneyfication of all corners of the earth. But the reality, thank goodness, is far more complex than that, involving international relations, global markets, and the rise of the power of individuals (Bill Gates, Osama Bin Laden) relative to the power of nations.<p> No one knows how all this will shake out, but <I>The Lexus and the Olive Tree</I> is as good an overview of this sometimes brave, sometimes fearful new world as you'll find. <I>--Lou Schuler</I> 304498 book 1997 The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization total:2083|5:303|4:815|3:655|2:230|1:80| 2083 7280 3075 218 1 7 false false Sun Aug 05 07:35:49 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 07:36:47 -0700 2007
My synopsis of standard Friedman socio-economic analysis:

I am a genius able...more...]]> 1 4 false false Sun Sep 21 17:43:52 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 17:52:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 2 false false Wed May 14 12:42:45 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 18:34:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Aug 28 12:04:26 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 29 19:45:00 -0700 2008 twice what sux is that he points out all the ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 21:50:51 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 15:02:31 -0700 2008
Part of this may be because it was written in 1999 (it was only 9 years ago, but this country has...more...]]> 1 1 false false Thu May 29 19:56:03 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 21:07:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 06 18:51:55 -0800 2007 Fri Jul 20 17:06:29 -0700 2007
His explanation of the origins of Globalization feel about right, you could probably guess what he'll suggest as the leading ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 30 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 11:24:56 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 12:55:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 16:19:09 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 12:56:43 -0700 2009 Friedman's primary thesis is that the cold war politics conditioned the behavior of nation state...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 22:49:53 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 22:56:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Sun Sep 06 17:42:41 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 17:42:41 -0700 2009
This book is a great pre-cursor to...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed Mar 11 06:24:29 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 06:28:26 -0700 2009
The olive tree represents everything that roots us, anchors us, identifies us and locates us ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Dec 28 10:44:08 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 10:48:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 11:21:18 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 30 10:56:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 10:59:51 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 02:31:00 -0700 2008 The Lexus and the Olive Tree is an overview of economic globalization in the post-Cold War era. The author is Thomas L.Friedman, who more recently wrote the bestseller The World Is Flat. I haven't read that one yet, but I hope to get to it if my to-read stack ever starts going down.

My co...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Jan 29 20:55:16 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 08:46:17 -0800 2008
Fried...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 18 20:02:58 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 10 19:58:55 -0800 2008 New York Times column to the Sunday morning political talk shows, to documentaries, Friedman was everywhere I turned, and I knew nothing about him.

Friedman, ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 24 03:43:53 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 22:41:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Sep 14 09:24:37 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 14 10:09:56 -0700 2008 1 "The driving idea behind globalization is free-market capitalism-the more you let market forces rule and the more you open your economy to free trade and competition, the more effici...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu Oct 02 13:43:34 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 02 13:44:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=750761