The Price of Civilization

Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity

By: Jeffrey D. Sachs

Narrated by: Richard McGonagle

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

For more than three decades, Jeffrey D. Sachs has been at the forefront of international economic problem solving. But Sachs turns his attention back home in The Price of Civilization, a book that is essential reading for every American. In a forceful, impassioned, and personal voice, he offers not only a searing and incisive diagnosis of our country’s economic ills but also an urgent call for Americans to restore the virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity.

As he has done in dozens of countries around the world in the midst of economic crises, Sachs turns his unique diagnostic skills to what ails the American economy. He finds that both political parties—and many leading economists—have missed the big picture, offering shortsighted solutions such as stimulus spending or tax cuts to address complex economic problems that require deeper solutions. Sachs argues that we have profoundly underestimated globalization’s long-term effects on our country, which create deep and largely unmet challenges with regard to jobs, incomes, poverty, and the environment. America’s single biggest economic failure, Sachs argues, is its inability to come to grips with the new global economic realities.Yet Sachs goes deeper than an economic diagnosis. By taking a broad, holistic approach—looking at domestic politics, geopolitics, social psychology, and the natural environment as well—Sachs reveals the larger fissures underlying our country’s current crisis. He shows how Washington has consistently failed to address America’s economic needs. He describes a political system that has lost its ethical moorings, in which ever-rising campaign contributions and lobbying outlays overpower the voice of the citizenry. He also looks at the crisis in our culture, in which an overstimulated and consumption-driven populace in a ferocious quest for wealth now suffers shortfalls of social trust, honesty, and compassion. Finally, Sachs offers a plan to turn the crisis around. He argues persuasively that the problem is not America’s abiding values, which remain generous and pragmatic, but the ease with which political spin and consumerism run circles around those values. He bids the reader to reclaim the virtues of good citizenship and mindfulness toward the economy and one another. Most important, he bids each of us to accept the price of civilization, so that together we can restore America to its great promise.

The Price of Civilization is a masterly road map for prosperity, founded on America’s deepest values and on a rigorous understanding of the twenty-first-century world economy.

©2011 Jeffrey D. Sachs (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Best known for advising postcommunist and impoverished countries on development strategies, economist Sachs (Common Wealth) takes on the cesspool of debt, backwardness, and corruption that is the United States in this hard-hitting brief for a humane economy... a must-read for every concerned citizen." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“There is no shortage of books on why laissez-faire is bad theory and dangerous practice. For a succinct, humane, and politically astute tour of the horizon, it’s hard to improve on Sachs’s The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity.” (The American Prospect)

heavy on the finger wagging

Jeff Sachs spends most of this book admonishing just about every institution in our society, except the unions. In the last hour or so, he lays out broad, big picture solutions for the various ills that the US is facing. To me, the strongest message in the book is "others have solved these problems, and so can we." Narration was super clear and as forceful as the text.

Can't believe he graduated from Harvard

I cannot believe that a PhD in macroeconomics from Harvard would do such a horrible job of misrepresenting facts with skewed statistics and blathering opinions. He compares one city in China to an entire country; completely irrelevant. I kept listening hoping that somewhere in this book would be a kernel of truth. Not only does he misuse statistics but he advocates the overthrow of the American government in favor of the European parliamentary systems. He constantly holds up Scandinavia as the model. He would not be satisfied until we are all taxed at 99% and the government, benevolent as it is, would redistribute the monies. Sachs!!! Socialism died; Capitalism won; move on. What an idiot.

Dark yet enlightening

The book goes deep into problems that haunt our society and elaborates on their underlying causes. It Was a bit too dark and hard to get through but the final chapters restores the hope through suggested solutions that will inspire you into action.

The narrator style fits the books approach and made it enjoyable.

policy making, government structure, long term

let's think long term planning. a lot of good quotes from JFK . our business leaders have a tremendous civic responsibility. is small gov the best??

Dr, Sachs has become depression

Any additional comments?

Dr. Sachs wrote Common Wealth, and I liked it, but The Price of Civilization, about the USA is really, really depressing. He's right, the facts are true, his conclusions are true, but it was so depressing. There don't seem to be any solutions. I just read the first half, and gave up.

Interesting points among mind numbing repetition.

Would you try another book from Jeffrey D. Sachs and/or Richard McGonagle?

Perhaps. I have read good reviews of his earlier books.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I felt that many of the time periods that he quoted statistics from were carefully chosen to prove his point while other time periods may not have supported his position. The important contribution that this book makes is force the reader to think about important issues and their possible resolution.