Course Title: History 350: Thomas Friedman

Prerequisite:  None

Credits:  3

When in the course of events, an attempt is made to read and concisely review a book, or in this case, three books by an author who is so worldly traveled, educated, and observant as a Tom Friedman, more often than not, the reviews can't live up to the original work. The collective works of Thomas L. Friedman is so much the case in point.

This columnist/author is so adapt as putting pen to paper, at writing a flowing yet insightful account, able to peal away at the layers of reality to get to the core issues, while at the same time keeping it interesting, often personal, and still highly educated. An examination of the titles of his books gives a taste of his genius in simplicity: Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in an Age of Terrorism, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and The World Is Flat. Take the second book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, paraphrasing the author: half the world is chasing after the Lexus, while the other half is fighting over an olive tree.

This course is designed to introduce to Right Sarcasm University students a New York Times contributor who is unabashedly pro-American, who has a knack for observation and conversation, who spent a decade in the area of the world that promises to be the most volatile in the foreseeable future, who can explain the effects of surging capitalism and give us all fair warning of the coming flat world.

It seems that the most talked about book in 2005 was The World Is Flat, by New York Times Columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman. There are many books that acquire the "must read" tag, this books is one of them. It is one of them for a very good reason, if the outsourcing-Walmart-China-falling wages-interconnected vulnerability aspects of society has alarmed you, then as a student this book is a must read. If you don't know anything about the outsourcing-Walmart-China-falling wages-interconnected vulnerability, then this book is going to be a read much scarier than anything Stephen King has put on paper.

To be sure, The World Is Flat would not fall into the category of a feel good story. Its content matter addresses what is going on in the world today, how we got to this point, and why it matters to all of us, whether we wish it to or not. This book will put to rest any romantic notion that the world could possibly be the same as the one we grew up in.

To that end, Friedman spends the first part of this book detailing how we got to this wide open and flat new world of the 21st Century, and if coincidence of dates fancy you, then your find the 11/9 to 9/11 recounting intriguing. The first part, "How the World Became Flat" delves into ten flattener's that shaped our present, from the fall of the Berlin Wall on 11/9/89 to #10 The Steroids.

The second part of the story, chapters 5 through thirteen is chalk full of examples and anecdotes of this flat world, and it is quite obvious that Friedman has a rolodex that is the envy of Presidents.

In reading this book, I was anxious to out Mr. Friedman as a liberal political hack, with an axe to grind, and while this may or may not be the case, The World Is Flat is not a book that is going to enrage the reader against any particular American party, although there are instances where he does criticize President Bush, a few times not unfairly, and a part where he refers to America under Bill Clinton as akin to Puff the Magic Dragon--encroaching on other nations business and politics but otherwise not intentionally malicious.

In the end, The World Is Flat has a message that is much too important than party politics, in fact the acknowledgements section does not include one DC politician. The message is that if America does not get its act together, and start educating our youths, re-educating our displaced workers, and acquire the hunger that is teeming from the guts of people all over the flat world, then we will get steamrollered.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree is in so many ways the precursor to The World Is Flat. The fact it was written 6 years earlier, is an obvious indicator! But in this first book by Thomas L. Friedman, we first come across many of the ideas and observations that have blossomed in the third.

A great strength of Friedman is his conversationalist style of writing--his books are not hard to read. The writings may include leanings that are disagreeable to a reader, or his concepts and invented words may not be fully explained, but one thing is sure, when reading a book by Thomas Friedman your going to be inundated with information, contacts, and anecdotes written in a easy to read and quickly devoured prose.

Many critics perceived The Lexus and the Olive Tree as a work championing capitalism, and while that is simplistic and doesn't do justice to other observation about the geopolitical realities he identifies, it is true that this book is more about the advance of capitalism and where we are heading than any other single idea.

Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in an Age of Terrorism was written, who more precisely, compiled after 9/11/2001. The first half of the book is a collection of the New York Times columns that the author wrote, while the second half is a more personal account, his diary.

On that infamous day Friedman was stuck in Israel when air travel was halted, so instead he decided to explore an area of the world that evidently despises America much, the Middle East. Friedman had earlier spent a decade in the area as a contributor for the Times, and wrote another book, From Beirut to Jerusalem. So instead of heading home, he heading into enemy territory to reacquaint himself with the people and places that are called home to terrorists.

This third book of Friedman attempts, in a personal way, to come to grips with why people feel the way they do about America, and what is the system and culture that has nurtured this antagonism. What this book is not about is bashing America.