The Next Decade: Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going

Friedman's analysis in this book is neither left nor right, neither liberal nor conservative. As a conservative myself, his cynical view of the American "empire" and practical Machiavellian insights into sound foreign policy contradict my idealistic higher moral calling toward "liberty and justice for all mankind". In fact, now that I think of it, it could be argued that Obama's soft call towards the Middle East may be just what we need to restore stalemate-stability in a region that would be devastating to US prosperity and security were it to unite under a common banner. This and other cold, hard insights on the unintended American hegemony make this the must-read book of the year, if not the decade. I have not read his previous books, so those of who know Friedman may be like, "yeah, we know he's good", but this is my first (and definitely not last) read from this author. You high-minded Tea-Party moralists and Left-wing ivy league idealogues would be foolish not to get a second opinion on how the world really operates from an internationally recognized expert on geopolitical analysis. Get it, read it, let your jaws hit the floor. Mine did.

I am a fan of George Friedman and he has provided a great service to readers who are interested in the geo-political furture faced by the US over the next decade. This is a terribly informative and stimulating analysis and outline of the broad issues that will confront the country. While his previous book, "The Next 100 Years" is interesting, this volume is of a shorter time horizon and, therefore, less conjecture is involved. For that reason, I enjoyed this one a great deal more than the prior. He opens the book with a discussion of the role that the POSTUS will need to play internationally. This discussion was at once disturbing to me and really enlightening about the nature of powerful leaders and leadership. He follows by discussing blancing various actors on the world stage (India/Paskistan; Russia/German and so on). He also has some thought provoking insights into the future of Asia in general and China in particular. In a particularly forceful portion of the book, Friedman defines "deep power" and explains why the US is the only super power and will probably remain so - assuming that the POTUS assumes the appropriate leadership stance that Friedman presents. The writing is very good and the reading of Bruce Turk is excellent. This is a book that everyone interested in the future of the country and votes should read.

This is my second book by George Friedman and I'm a strong advocate for his books. I encourage my friends to read this book, though make their opinion on Mr.s Friedman's logic.

Much like "America's Secret War", the title does no justice to the content. This book is captivating in the author's strongly founded opinions on the direction of global affairs and how in fact the presidency matters only in so much in how the president responds to current issues (and the impact they will have on the next decade.) Very good read.

I had finished half of the book ,so far I liked it pretty much.

Lots of interesting information about geopolitics. The author spends more pages writting about what had happened in the last fifty years than predicting what would happen in the next decade.That's not what I had expected,but still ok, interesting content.

If you are someone who aleady knew a lot on geopolitics, you won't find too much news in this book.But if you are not, I highly recommend this book, after 9 hours listening, you will have a more clear,deeper view on geopolitics.

The book's main premise and Friedman's concern, at least how he states it in the introduction is that America has become an empire because it is now the sole major power in the world. Friedman builds a solid argument here and then moves on to describe his concern that the US is immature and our republic may not survive managing the empire. In his view, the Presidency is the major institution of government that can manage the empire and the republic. He makes a good case for how President Bush lost his balance in responding so strongly to the attacks of 09/11 and initiating a war on terror that can not be won, and has shifted America's focus from other major threats such as a resurgent Russia.

Friedman does a good job of laying out the foreign policy challenges the US faces in the next decade and offers prescriptions of what should be done to manage our long-term interests. Some of these are very counter intuitive to general thinking, but they make sense within the general framework he advocates to maintain America's interests. The chapters on what policy actions to take are the books strength.

The book's weakness, however, is the limited prescriptions as to what the President must do to manage the Republic while responding to these challenges. He cites Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan as three astute role models, while acknowledging they each pursued duplicitous strategies in some cases to achieve a moral objective. He notes the flaws in an idealistic or realistic approach to foreign policy and how a more nuanced view is needed. And while he describes how the President must communicate to citizens, he does not offer any solid definition of how the President must interact with Congress or the Judiciary. He does suggest that we need a more rationalized administration developing foreign policy. I think this book could have been much better if it was co-written with a political governance expert.

George Friedman, I think has a delusional outlook on foreign policy. To say that certain conditions would benefit a nation is one thing, to advocate that a nation should or could engineer those conditions is pure folly. Certainly that was what the war in iraq was, and its consequences are still unfolding. Although america may be in a position of leverage right now, coalitions can be formed to undermine that position. Noone sees the dragon coming, thats what makes it the dragon.

Enjoyable, informative, novel

Easy listening

Its not necessary to listen it in one sitting, but I found myself wanting more

Worth the read, Friedman tries to assess the world relationships in the coming decade.

I originally rented this from Cracker Barrel. I liked it so much I bought it here and listened to it 2 more times. There is a slight liberal lean to it, but that is palatable. I learned so much, I can not even describe. The mistake of Iraq is so painfully obvious when you listen to this book.

No, not better, but different. There are advantages to each. I like lying in bed listening to an audio book with the lights out. I do find that I have to listen more than once to grasp the ideas. Also, I tend to fall asleep. But I also listen while I'm doing chores, and I think the book is a better use of time than listening to the radio.

There is something that bothered me about Friedman's arguments in regard to morality and political realism, but I can't put my finger on it yet. And that is why this is a great read/listen. I'm really trying to think about what he says. Agree or not, this an interesting book.