The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded] A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

The World Is Flatis Thomas L. Friedman'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. This updated and expanded edition features more than a hundred pages of fresh reporting and commentary, drawn from Friedman's travels around the world and across the American heartland--from anyplace where the flattening of the world is being felt. InThe World Is Flat, Friedman at once shows "how and why globalization has now shifted into warp drive" (Robert Wright, Slate) and brilliantly demystifies the new flat world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate 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. More than ever,The World Is Flatis an essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists. Thomas L. Friedmanhas won the Pulitzer Prize three times for his work atThe New York Times. He is the author of three best-selling books:From Beirut to Jerusalem, winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction and still considered to be the definitive work on the Middle East,The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, andLongitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his family. Winner of theFinancial Times/Goldman Sachs Book Award ANew York TimesNotable Book AChristian Science MonitorBest Bookof the Year AWashingtonPostBest Book of the Year AnEconomistBest Book of the Year 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-winningNew York Timescolumnist 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 Flatis the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists. This updated and expanded edition of Friedman's 2005 bestseller features a hundred new pages of fresh