The World Is Flat, 3.0

A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

A New Edition of the #1 Bestseller

“One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal,” the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters–on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.

The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks–environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.


Reviews

“[An] exciting and very readable account of globalization…[Friedman] provides a compelling case that something big is going on…One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal… In his provocative account, Mr. Friedman suggests what this brave new world will mean to all of us, in both the developed and the developing worlds.”

–Joseph E. Stiglitz, The New York Times

The World Is Flat continues the franchise Friedman has made for himself as a great explicator of and cheerleader for globalization, building upon his 1999 The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Like its predecessor, this book showcases Friedman’s gift for lucid dissections of abstruse economic phenomena, his teacher’s head, his preacher’s heart, his genius for trend-spotting…[This book] also shares some of the earlier volume’s excitement (mirroring Rajesh Rao’s) and hesitations about whether we’re still living in an era dominated by old-fashioned states or in a postmodern, globalized era where states matter far less and the principal engine of change is a leveled playing field for international trade.”

–Warren Bass, The Washington Post

“Nicely sums up the explosion of digital-technology advances during the past 15 years and places the phenomenon in its global context…[Friedman] never shrinks from the biggest problems and the thorniest issues…Ambitious.”

–Paul Mangnusson, BusinessWeek

“Excellent…[This book’s] insight is true and deeply important… The metaphor of a flat world, used by Friedman to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious…The book is done in Friedman’s trademark style. You travel with him, meet his wife and kids, learn about his friends and sit in on his interviews…[This method] works in making complicated ideas accessible…Friedman has a flair for business reporting and finds amusing stories about Wal-Mart, UPS, Dell, and JetBlue, among others, that relate to his basic theme.”

–Fareed Zakaria, The New York Times Book Review
(cover review)