The Lexus and the Olive Tree [Paperback]

One day in 1992, Thomas Friedman toured a Lexus factory in Japan and marvelled at the robots that put the luxury cars together. That evening, as he ate sushi on a Japanese bullet train, he read a story about yet another Middle East squabble between Palestinians and Israelis. And it hit him: half the world was lusting after those Lexuses, or at least the brilliant technology that made them possible, and the other half was fighting over who owned which olive tree.

Friedman, the well-travelled New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, peppers The Lexus and the Olive Tree with stories that illustrate his central theme: that globalisation--the Lexus--is the central organising principle of the post-cold war world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding onto what has traditionally mattered to them--the olive tree. Problem is, few of us understand what exactly globalisation means. As Friedman sees it, the concept, at first glance, is all about American hegemony. But the reality, thank goodness, is far more complex than that, involving international relations, global markets and the rise of the power of individuals (Bill Gates, Osama Bin Laden) relative to the power of nations.

No one knows how all this will shake out, but The Lexus and the Olive Tree is as good an overview of this sometimes brave, sometimes fearful new world as you'll find. --Lou Schuler

‘Friedman provides an excellent bird’s-eye view of globalization’
Financial Times

A powerful and accessible account of globalization – the new world order that has replaced the cold war – by the award-winning author of From Beirut to Jerusalem.

More than anything else, globalization is shaping world affairs today. We cannot interpret the day’s news, or know where to invest our money, unless we understand this new system – the defining force in international relations and domestic policies worldwide. The unprecedented integration of finance, markets, nation states and technology is driving change accross the globe at an ever-increasing speed. And while much of the world is intent on building a better Lexus, on streamlining their societies and economies for the global marketplace, many people feel their traditional identities threatened and are reverting to elemental struggles over who owns which olive tree, which strip of land.

Thomas Friedman has a unique vantage point on this worldwide phenomenon. The New York Times foreign affairs columnist has travelled the globe, interviewing everyone from Brazilian peasants to new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, to Islamic students, to the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, to find out what globalization means for them, and for all of us.

This ground-breaking book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how the world really works today.

More than anything else, globalisation is shaping world affairs today. We cannot interpret the day's news, or know where to invest our money, unless we understand this new system – the defining force in international relations and domestic policies worldwide. The unprecedented integration of finance, markets, nation states and technology is driving change accross the globe at an ever-increasing speed. And while much of the world is intent on building a better Lexus, on streamlining their societies and economies for the global marketplace, many people feel their traditional identities threatened and are reverting to elemental struggles over who owns which olive tree, which strip of land.

Thomas Friedman has a unique vantage point on this worldwide phenomenon. The New York Times foreign affairs columnist has travelled the globe, interviewing everyone from Brazilian peasants to new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, to Islamic students, to the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, to find out what globalisation means for them, and for all of us.

This ground-breaking book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how the world really works today.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN was born in Minneapolis in 1943. He completed his post-graduate Middle-Eastern Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford, before becoming a journalist. From 1979 to 1981, he was UPI’s Beirut correspondent. In 1982, he became the New York Times’ Beirut bureau chief, moving south to Jerusalem in 1984 to become bureau chief there. In January 1989, he became the New York Times’ chief diplomatic correspondent in Washington, where he now lives with his wife and two daughters. Friedman has twice won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from the Middle East.