That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back [Hardcover]
- Author by Friedman, Thomas L; Mandelbaum, Michael
From Publisher
Reviews
- From Publishers Weekly
- Reflecting on America's past greatness and its slipping position among global powers, Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times columnist Friedman (The World is Flat) and foreign policy expert Mandelbaum (The Frugal Superpower) warn against the United States' "dangerous complacency" in the face of increasingly complex global challenges. They repeat a question first posed by Bill Gates ("What was all that good stuff we had that other people copied?") and prescribe a set of sensible government practices for prosperity: invest in public education and infrastructure, foster immigration and scientific research, and set up effective financial regulation. The rapid upheaval of the Arab Spring exemplifies the dynamism of today's intertwined world ("Flat World 2.0"), where ideas and innovationnot goods or skillsare an individual or country's top economic commodities. American workers must approach the global marketplace with creativity in order to remain globally competitive. To that end, they also support reigning in the national debt and committing to the use of alternative energy sources. Broad ranging in its anecdotes and research, conversational (if pedantic) in its tone, and hopeful in its patriotism, they look the challenges of the 21st century squarely in the eye. (Sept.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.
- From Booklist
- *Starred Review* Friedman, whose prescient if unleavened The World Is Flat (2005) explained the cold realities of globalizationspecifically, increased competition worldwidethat have since hit Americans hard joins Johns Hopkins international-studies professor Mandelbaum to explain the most serious problems the U.S. currently faces and offer some possible solutions. First is China's astonishing economic success during the past 20 years along with America's failure to respond with equal vigor. The authors cite four challenges the U.S. must urgently address: ongoing globalization, which puts downward pressure on American wages and jobs; the changing nature of work wrought by the IT revolution; the national deficit; and climate change. Much of the book rightfully examines the role education and, especially, great teachers could play in equipping young Americans to navigate the global economy, and it cites a paralyzed, polarized federal government and a weakened economy as drags on America's ability to act. Although many of the ideas here have been well covered in Friedman's newspaper column, and although Friedman's prognostications have been imperfect (e.g., he predicted a democratization of the Middle East from the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq), he and Mandelbaum, two of the few adults in the room, create, first, a realistic portrait of today's global economy and then a workable plan by which Americans might thrive in this new world they've helped invent.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
Quote Reviews
"Friedman and Mandelbaum are men of the American elite, and they write to salute those members of the American elite who behave public-spiritedly and to scourge those who do not. They are winners, writing to urge other winners to have more of a care for their fellow citizens who are not winners. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that! . . . American society has had a big serving of that ugly anti-elitist spirit in the recent past. It could use more of the generous responsible spirit Friedman and Mandelbaum recommend." --David Frum, "The New York Times Book Review"
"This is a book of exceptional importance, written on a sweeping scale with remarkable clarity by two of our most gifted thinkers. A soon-to-be best seller, it should be read by policymakers and every American concerned about our country's future." --Elizabeth L. Winter, Library Journal
"[In "That Used to Be Us" there] are big truths, and the authors see them clearly and whole. As is usual in Mr. Friedman's work the power of the core argument is buttressed by detailed reportage and blizzards of specific fact and detail, but the accumulation of anecdote and evidence never detracts from the book's central thrust. "That Used to Be Us" is an important contribution to an intensifying debate, and it deserves the widest possible attention." --Walter Russell Mead, "The New York Times"
"Friedman and Mandelbaum are men of the American elite, and they write to salute those members of the American elite who behave public-spiritedly and to scourge those who do not. They are winners, writing to urge other winners to have more of a care for their fellow citizens who are not winners. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that! . . . American society has had a big serving of that ugly anti-elitist spirit in the recent past. It could use more of the generous responsible sp
