Product Description

What can the successes and failures of the 20th century teach us as the world faces an uncertain future in the 21st? The attacks on 11 September 2001 shook the rich West out of its complacency: suddenly, peace looked to be in peril. Even before that time prosperity was already at risk, as the high-tech stockmarket boom turned to bust and campaigns were mounted against the perceived evils of capitalist globalization - inequality, pollution and financial instability. Yet, in the decade following the end of the Cold War, prospects had never looked so rosy, with peace prevailing between the world's great powers, with billions of people joining the world market economy and with great waves of technological change driving economies forward. What can we make of such confusion and disappointment? What will the 21st century be like? Bill Emmott argues that the best way to think about the future is to look back at the past, at the forces that have shaped our world and at what they tell you about the things that really matter - whather we are at peace or war, in a state of liberty or repression, or in a period of prosperity or depression. Two questions rise above all others: can capitalism continue to be the dominant force in the world, and how will peace and democracy prevail in these times of fear and instability?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1151064 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

About the Author
Bill Emmott is the editor of The Economist magazine. His previous publications include THE SUN ALSO SETS, a major international best-seller.

Customer Reviews

Insightful!
This lengthy philosophical treatise from the editor-in-chief of The Economist wanders all over recent history and offers some cautious, well-hedged ruminations about the shape of things to come. It’s a pleasure to read, like lounging in a posh boat and drifting down a slow river of thought. The current of thought is almost directionless. Emmott shifts from subject to subject, time period to time period, perspective to perspective easily, with no restraint. He has a little pro-Americanism here, a little underestimating of the Chinese there, but nothing sharp-edged. Readers looking for a succinct point of view will be disappointed; so will those seeking fresh, new ideas. But we understand that those who enjoy considering and decoding the complex web of political and economic forces will be delighted.