Rethinking the American Dream

One of the many ideas/questions that occasionally comes up in the conversation in our course is the idea of “the American Dream.”  What is the American Dream? Where did this idea come from? How has this idea evolved over time and how does this evolution reflect our changing culture? How has the evolution of our consumption (and the impact of our consumption on our values) changed our understanding of the meaning and function of this “American Dream”?

This evening I have just listened to a really excellent show on NPR from American Radioworks that explored these questions in a very comprehensive and fascinating way. I really appreciate the way that this program explored the evolution of the idea of the American Dream and its impact in the context of the evolution of our society and inequality in our society. This show also has a well thought out website. Check this out and let me know what you think…      http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/americandream/

New Books Under Consideration for this Fall

Now that I have listed last year’s books in the post below I will now present the books that I am considering for this fall.  I am also providing websites with more information on each book, as well as a few of my own initial comments on each work. Comments on any of these books or any other feedback is most welcome.

Hot Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution, by Thomas L. Friedman (2008)

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded

This new book by Friedman will replace his previous book The World is Flat in our course. Friedman’s new book is ideal for this course because it explores several of the themes that our course focuses on including environmental sustainability, climate change, and the convergence of global demand for energy and foreign policy. When our course began back in 2004 we began with Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and Friedman’s unique description of globalization is updated once again in this new book.

Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Crisis of American Capitalism, by Kevin Phillips, new updated paperback edition (2009)

http://www.bad-money.com

The original hard cover edition of Phillips book came out in April 2008 and I read it last summer before the financial crisis hit in September. I found it to be incredibly compelling and unfortunately his forecast turned out to be spot on, as we learned last fall. Now Phillips has released an updated paperback version with an extensive new preface that presents the best short overview of the causes of the financial meltdown last fall that I have found. I really loved Phillips previous book American Theocracy, and Bad Money may be even better because of it’s startling prescience.

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, by Muhammad Yunus (2008)

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/yunus_book

 The development of microcredit and microfinance has been an emerging topic in our course and this excellent new book by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is making a compelling case for inclusion in our course.

Statecraft and How to Restore America’s Standing in the World, by Dennis Ross, paperback edition with a new Afterword (2008)

http://us.macmillan.com/statecraft

The issue of the impact of globalization on foreign policy is central to our course and few authors (if any) have the range of experience and the insight of Dennis Ross. This book is incredibly timely for our course and it is an extraordinary resource for anyone who is interested in the conduct of foreign policy and statecraft.

Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid, new updated paperback edition (2009)

http://www.ahmedrashid.com/books

Ahmed Rashid is one of my favorite authors. Many will remember his bestselling book Taliban and his new book on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States is the most complete and comprehensive book on this topic that I have found. Afghanistan/Pakistan is quite possibly the greatest foreign policy challenge that we now face and Rashid’s research and insight is invaluable.

Rising Powers Shrinking Planet: the New Geopolitics of Energy, by Michael T. Klare, new updated paperback edition (2009)

http://us.macmillan.com/risingpowersshrinkingplanet

Michael Klare is the author of Blood and Oil, a book we have used in our course for the past three years. Klare’s new book is quite frankly the best book that I have ever read on the intersection of energy, globalization, climate change, and foreign policy. This is an extraordinary work and it would be hard to overstate it’s relevance to our course.

I will be updating more books on this site later this week, so check back for more books soon…

The Books We Read Last Fall

 Before I discuss the new books that I am considering for this fall I want to list the books that we read last fall. Although all of these books were highly reviewed by most of my students, probably only 2 of them will remain on the reading list for Fall 2009. This is nothing against any of these books, all of which I think are excellent. Rather this is due to the fact that some fascinating new books are coming out that I think will push the conversation forward. If there is a book on this list that you really want to see stay in the course please comment on why you want to see it stay. Here is the list of our books from last fall in the order in which they appeared in the course:

The World is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, by Thomas L. Friedman  (2007)

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, by Jeffrey D. Sachs  (2006)

Making Globalization Work, by Joseph Stiglitz (2007)

Myths of Free Trade, by Sherrod Brown (2006)

Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, by Michael T. Klare  (2004)

Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower, by Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007)

The Much Too Promised Land, by Aaron David Miller  (2008)

The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations, by Jonathan Sacks (2004)

New Blog Examines Books on Globalization

Several of my former students have asked about books that we have read in the Seminar in Globalization last fall and what books we will be reading next fall. So I have created this blog to discuss books that we have read and books that I am considering for next Fall. I welcome your feedback so please let me know what you think about any or all of these books…