num_pages: 289
description: As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New YorkTimes, Thomas L. Friedman has traveled to the four corners ofthe globe, interviewing people from all walks of contemporary life  Brazilian peasants in the Amazon rain forest, new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Islamic students in Teheran, and the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.Now Friedman has drawn on his years on the road to producean engrossing and original look at the new international system that, more than anything else, is shaping world affairs today: globalization.His argument can be summarized quite simply. Globalizationis not just a phenomenon and not just a passing trend. It is the international system that replaced the Cold War system. Globalization is the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.You cannot understand the morning news or know where toinvest your money or think about where the world is going unless you understand this new system, which is influencing the domestic policies and international relations of virtually every country in the world today. And once you do understand the world as Friedman explains it, you'll never look at it quite the same way again.With vivid stories and a set of original terms and concepts,Friedman shows us how to see this new system. He dramatizes the conflict of "the Lexus and the olive tree"  the tension between the globalization system and ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community. He also details the powerful backlash that globalization produces amongthose who feel brutalized by it, and he spells out what we all need to do to keep this system in balance.Finding the proper balance between the Lexus and the olivetree is the great drama of the globalization era, and the ultimate theme of Friedman's challenging, provocative book  essential reading for all who care about how the world really works.Thomas L. Friedman is one of America's leadinginterpreters of world affairs. Born in Minneapolis in 1953, he was educated at Brandeis University and St. Antony's College, Oxford. His first book, From Beirut to Jerusalem,won the National Book Award in 1988. Mr. Friedman has also won two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting for TheNew York Times as bureau chief in Beirut and in Jerusalem. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Ann, and their daughters, Orly and Natalie.  
language: English
title: The Lexus and the Olive Tree
titlecomplete: The Lexus and the Olive Tree
genres: Business, Sociology, Politics, Political Science, Nonfiction, History, International Relations, Cultural, Reference, Economics
ratings_count: 8383
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Cornelius Ryan Award
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux