The Post-American World

By: Fareed Zakaria

Narrated by: Fareed Zakaria

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

For Fareed Zakaria, the great story of our times is not the decline of America but rather the rise of everyone else - the growth of countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and many, many more.

This economic growth is generating a new global landscape where power is shifting and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places. It's also producing political confidence and national pride. As these trends continue, the push of globalization will increasingly be joined by the pull of nationalism - a tension that is likely to define the next decades.

With his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination, Zakaria draws on lessons from the two great power shifts of the past 500 years - the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States - to tell us what we can expect from the third shift, the "rise of the rest".

Washington must begin a serious transformation of global strategy and seek to share power, create coalitions, build legitimacy, and define the global agenda. None of this will be easy for the greatest power the world has ever known - the only power that for so long has really mattered. But all that is changing now. The future we face is the post-American world.

©2008 Fareed Zakaria (P)2008 Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A definitive handbook for political and business leaders who want to succeed in a global era." (Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe)

get 2.0

Any additional comments?

Good but this version is dated. Wish I had known about the newer updated release. 2021, vs 2008 a lot has changed since this was first published.

Unfortunately this book is outdated

Unfortunately this book is outdated the financial crisis in late 2008 makes a lot of his point seem dated. Bringing up Goldman Sachs as a valued source made me laugh.

A must read

This book covers the problems that the US will likely face as other countries rise out of centuries of poverty, but it also outlines ways to ensure a spot in the flat future. A must read for anyone that wants to rise above the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is peddled by our 24 hour news networks and squabbling politicians.

The Future is Here

Perhaps one of the most fascinating thing about this book is that it was written prior to the current economic meltdown. And, by the way, it's exactly on target.

Rather than demonizing the US and what it does wrong, the book points out that for decades, we've been encouraging the rest of the world to follow our lead in building their economies and political systems. Low and behold, it's happening! There are certainly some admonitions for changes we should make at home, but this book is more about what the future holds and our place in it.

The author engagingly reads the book with an intelligence.

Recommended!

Fareed Zakaria is great. Though I don't agree with every single thing he said, I still think it is a very well-written book. Great read, worth the money.

Good background on USA's future

I liked the stage-setting that this book offered for the world ahead of us Americans. It was great to read/listen to this book, then read "Crash Proof" and "The Little Book ..." (both by Peter Schiff). Scary stuff for future generations, including my retirement years!

Fareed Zakaria puts it into prospective

Would you consider the audio edition of The Post-American World to be better than the print version?

In some ways, yes, because Fareed's unique voice leads to making the information more interesting.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The indepth analysis of Fareed's positions and insight into Geopolitical changes.

What about Fareed Zakaria’s performance did you like?

Everything. It was an amazing reading of his book. His voice lends to an easy-to-follow and authoritative lecture.

A view from above

The problem with a lot of books about globalization is that they get too mired in mind numbing statistics that profess to tell much, but actually tell very little. More often motivated by a free-trader zealotry, these authors are so focused on pushing a particular economic agenda that their arguments become suspect. Dr. Fareed Zakaria's book "The Post-American World" is a refreshing change from all that.

Many people will be familiar with Zakaria from a variety of sources. Still it is interesting to see the brilliance he conveys when not limited to the 30 second analysis. Zakaria's advantage over others who have written in this field is that he takes a broader view. Not solely focused on China and India as the only games on the block (though much of the book is about them) he views them as two of the most important aspects of a larger phenomena he calls "The Rise of the Rest."

The ability to contextualize globalization in truly global terms is what gives this book its fascinating and helpful slant. Additionally, Zakaria is not burdened by cold-war baggage. He is able to view the history of China and India as not mistaken blind alleys that only needed to be discarded, but as an integral part of the process that led them to the place they now are. His focus not on just history but culture as well allows him the sort of breadth that contextualizes the present in a way others cannot.

Zakaria is likewise not interested in frightening his readers. His view is the globalization is as inevitable as it is positive. He decries the sort of jingoism and isolationism that both American political parties have engaged in and recognizes that there is simply a new game in town. Americans must now learn to play under the new rules. These new rules require multilateralism and global structures and show that no longer can we go it alone. But if America is willing it can still be the world's leader.

Mostly Gold

This book provides a comprehensive and sobering perspective of the international community. The main premise, that the world has moved past an age where it once was dominated and cared for by all things American,is well supported and relevant. The first two or three chapters develop on this theme showing how other countries have their own cultures and economies which remain less penetrated than we might think by American hard and soft power.

Later in the book there are a few chapters that are merely so-so. One chapter in particular, about the historic reasons why the West developed and other cultures did not, deals with a topic that is perhaps best left to other authors. There are also chapters devoted to the rise of China and India, which are okay, but, there is nothing special about them.

Near the final chapter of the book comes a section about what a relative decline in power means for America. It highlights the prominent features of the process, and dismisses other facts and figures as scaremongering perspectives on the subject. This section of the book is largely the same as an article he wrote for Foriegn Affairs. It's an important read.

Overall, the book's stregnth lies in the fact that it provides a pragmatic and comprehensive picture of the international scene without overembelishment. Although the book takes a few detours down roads that are not entirely related to the main idea, or thoroughly comprehensive, it doesn't detract from the sections of the book that are pure gold.

A Masterpiece of depth and culture

I rarely enjoy a book as much as I did this one. Zacharia’s reason and writing skill are superb, and the research done is also remarkable. Few authors can lay an argument and stay with it with such clarity throughout hundreds of pages. The only other one that comes to mind is Niall Ferguson.

While reasserting his work, I came across Ferguson’s latest documentary, “The World Without US”, an investigative piece of journalism that debates what would happen shout the US withdraw its military from around the world. I would also recommend it for anyone interested in the future of world affairs.