Synopses & Reviews
For over a decade now, the reigning consensus has held that the combination of free markets and democracy would transform the third world and sweep away the ethnic hatred and religious zealotry associated with underdevelopment. In this astute, original, and surprising investigation of the true impact of globalization, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua explains why many developing countries are in fact consumed by ethnic violence after adopting free market democracy.
Chua shows how in non-Western countries around the globe, free markets have concentrated starkly disproportionate wealth in the hands of a resented ethnic minority. These "market-dominant minorities" Chinese in Southeast Asia, Croatians in the former Yugoslavia, whites in Latin America and South Africa, Indians in East Africa, Lebanese in West Africa, Jews in post-communist Russia become objects of violent hatred. At the same time, democracy empowers the impoverished majority, unleashing ethnic demagoguery, confiscation, and sometimes genocidal revenge. She also argues that the United States has become the world's most visible market-dominant minority, a fact that helps explain the rising tide of anti-Americanism around the world. Chua is a friend of globalization, but she urges us to find ways to spread its benefits and curb its most destructive aspects.
Review
"Provocative, evocative, nuanced, and highly readable....Amy Chua deserves our gratitude." The Washington Post
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"Superb....Encourages us to confront the world as it is, and our actual place in it, with a humane and intellectually formidable imagination." The New York Observer
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"This hard-hitting book should be read by everyone who still imagines that free markets can solve all the world's ills. Chua's work is provocative, creative, and important." Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
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"Chua eloquently fuses expert analysis with personal recollections." Publishers Weekly
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"A nuanced contribution to the debate over whether free markets spread democracy or merely advance the McDonaldsization of the globe." Kirkus Reviews
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"Clear and persuasive....Chua is a careful, precise writer." Salon
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"A brilliant, groundbreaking assault on the prevailing wisdom that the American political and economic model is a one-stop solution to the world's woes." Elle
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"The greatest tribute to any book is the conviction upon closing it that the senseless finally makes sense. That's the feeling left by Amy Chua's World on Fire." The Washington Post
Synopsis
The reigning consensus holds that the combination of free markets and democracy would transform the third world and sweep away the ethnic hatred and religious zealotry associated with underdevelopment. In this revelatory investigation of the true impact of globalization, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua explains why many developing countries are in fact consumed by ethnic violence after adopting free market democracy.
Chua shows how in non-Western countries around the globe, free markets have concentrated starkly disproportionate wealth in the hands of a resented ethnic minority. These market-dominant minorities Chinese in Southeast Asia, Croatians in the former Yugoslavia, whites in Latin America and South Africa, Indians in East Africa, Lebanese in West Africa, Jews in post-communist Russia become objects of violent hatred. At the same time, democracy empowers the impoverished majority, unleashing ethnic demagoguery, confiscation, and sometimes genocidal revenge. She also argues that the United States has become the world s most visible market-dominant minority, a fact that helps explain the rising tide of anti-Americanism around the world. Chua is a friend of globalization, but she urges us to find ways to spread its benefits and curb its most destructive aspects."
About the Author
Amy Chua is a professor at Yale Law School. She lectures frequently on the effects of globalization to government, business, and academic groups around the world. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut.