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19+ oeuvres 26,736 utilisateurs 332 critiques 37 Favoris

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Journalist Thomas L. Friedman was born in 1953 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Friedman graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in Mediterranean Studies and earned a graduate degree from Oxford in Modern Middle East Studies. His reporting on the war in Lebanon won the George Polk Award, the afficher plus Pulitzer Prize, and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. He won a second Pulitzer for his work in Israel. Friedman began his career as a correspondent for United Press International and later served as bureau chief for the New York Times in Beirut and Jerusalem. He moved to the op-ed page of The New York Times as a foreign affairs columnist. In 2002, Friedman won his third Pulitzer Prize, this time for Commentary. Friedman wrote about his experiences as a Jewish-American reporter in the Middle East in From Beirut to Jerusalem, which won the National Book Award in 1989. The bestselling Lexus and the Olive Tree won the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for best nonfiction book on foreign policy. He wrote Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 and The World Is Flat, which received the first Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. His other works include Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0, and That Used to Be Us which made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. His title, Thank You for Being Late, made the New York Times Best Seller List in 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins

Œuvres de Thomas L. Friedman

From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989) 3,493 exemplaires

Oeuvres associées

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The Best American Political Writing 2007 (2007) — Contributeur — 26 exemplaires

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Thomas L. Friedman' s "Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations" is hot, flat, and crowded, just like some of his earlier books. After you get past the fact that the title of the book has nothing to do with the next 453 pages, you're faced with the conundrum of asking yourself who this book is written for.

Sometimes I think Friedman is addressing me as though I were the CEO of a Fortune 500 company plying me with stories how I can keep up with and exploit trends in technology and globalization to keep my stock price headed in the right direction.

Sometimes I think Friedman wants me to be a public policy maker ready to treat the issues of climate change more seriously, or worse yet, a Republican President who actually has the power to do good...or ill.

But most often, I think Tom Friedman treats me as an American in paradise who grew up in the 1950's and has both a little too much money and a little too much time on my hands so that maybe I'll take time off from my crushing existence to do a little good in the world.

Have you ever walked into a doll's house where the ceiling is artificially low, the furniture a little small, and the teacups on the table made in miniature? It makes you feel bigger than you are, no? That's a little how I feel walking into Friedman's construct. The world's problems seem so manageable. AI getting you down? No problem! Let's work with machines to eliminate employment and take control of the mechanized world. Nervous about Republican bigwigs? All we have to do is get them in the same room as right-minded business leaders and we'll straighten out all the misconceptions about community action.

While there are some fun stories in this book, too much of it is leavened with "American optimism" and too little with real research.

It is nice to believe that cultural diversity promotes economic growth, social cohesion, and good old-fashioned broad-mindedness. Show me the data!

The book veers dangerously into self-help much like some of the worst of Malcolm Gladwell's pop hits. I could be happier! I could be richer! I could even be more socially active! But then again, I could also be broke in six months, fighting off cancer, and watching my city dissolve into an abyss.

I empathize with Friedman's concern that American politics -- and Middle-East politics, for that matter -- have hit a dead end. It looks like all three branches of the US federal government are intent on dismantling everything they can get their hands on. We are going to see the Americans dismantle regulation of the financial services industry, the crude extraction industry, environmental protections, protections for women's health, health insurance, its diplomatic corps, and maybe even the intelligence apparatus.

It's not going to be pretty.

Then, Lucy, we've got some "splainin" to do.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
MylesKesten | 23 autres critiques | Jan 23, 2024 |

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Œuvres
19
Aussi par
4
Membres
26,736
Popularité
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Évaluation
½ 3.7
Critiques
332
ISBN
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Langues
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Favoris
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