The World is Flat

This book is an update on globalization, its history, successes, and discontents. It discusses a wide range of topics, from the September 11 terrorist attacks to the growth of the middle class in both China and India. This new edition is the author's account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before, creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place. Updated and expanded, it features more than a hundred pages of fresh reporting and commentary, drawn from the author's travels around the world and across the American heartland from anyplace where the flattening of the world is being felt. Here he shows how and why globalization has accelerated, and demystifies the new flat world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes. Translating complex foreign policy and economic issues, he 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; how governments and societies can, and must, adapt; and why terrorists want to stand in the way.