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THE WORLD IS FLAT? A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THOMAS FRIEDMAN’S NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, by Ronald Aronica and Mtetwa Ramdoo (Meghan Kiffer Press, 2006).

http://www.mkpress.com/Flat/

[A 14-minute animated presentation of the book reviews a number of its criticisms of Friedman’s bestseller.]

Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution

From boardrooms to classrooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere, including a best-selling book by a famous journalist. However, Thomas Friedman's runaway bestseller, The World is Flat, is dangerous. Friedman makes "arguments by assertion," assertions based not on documented facts, but on stories from friends and elite CEOs he visits -- not even one footnote reference. Yet his book influences business and government leaders around the globe. By what it leaves out, it does nothing more than misinform millions of people and our leaders.

In The World is Flat? Aronica and Ramdoo show that the world isn't flat; it's tilted in favor of unfettered global corporations that exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond. This concise monograph brings clarity to many of Friedman's misconceptions, and explores nine key issues that Friedman largely ignores, including the hollowing out of America's debt-ridden middle class. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz. Refreshingly, you can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman's almost 600 pages of ill-informed, grandiloquent prose and bafflegab.