Lexus and the Olive Tree : Understanding Globalization

As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New York
Times, Thomas L. Friedman has traveled to the four corners of
the 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 produce
an 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. Globalization
is 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 to
invest 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 among
those 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 olive
tree 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 leading
interpreters 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 The
New 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.