Book : The Retreat Of Western Liberalism - Luce, Edward

-Titulo Original : The Retreat Of Western Liberalism

-Fabricante :

Grove Press

-Descripcion Original:

From Financial Times chief US columnist and commentator Edward Luce, The Retreat of Western Liberalism offers a sharp and insightful look at why the values the West has long championed are now in danger, with a new afterword for the paperback. Luce argues that today’s the erosion of middle-class incomes has eaten away at liberal democratic consensus, resulting in today’s crisis. We are continuing on a menacing trajectory brought about by ignorance of what it took to build the West, arrogance towards society’s economic losers, and complacency about our system’s durability attitudes that have been emerging since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unless the West can rekindle an economy that produces gains for the majority of its people, its political liberties may be doomed. The West’s quasi-religious faith in the linear progression of history teaches us to take democracy for granted. Reality tells us something troublingly different. The most mortal threat to the Western idea of progress comes from within. Combining on-the-ground reporting with intelligent synthesis of the literature and economic analysis, Luce makes a powerful statement about the weakening of Western hegemony and gives a forward-thinking analysis of what those who believe in enlightenment values must do to defend them from the multiple onslaughts they face in the coming years. Review One of the Washington Post’s 50 notable works of nonfiction in 2017, an Amazon Top 100 book of the year, and a Financial Times and Economist best book of the year “Timely and informed, providing an important overview of the dynamics in an increasingly interconnected and fragmented planet . . . In his prescient 2012 book, Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent, Luce uncannily anticipated the politics of resentment and the bitter fights over immigration that would fuel ‘Brexit’ and last year’s American election. And in this new book, he lucidly expounds on the erosion of the West’s middle classes, the dysfunction among its political and economic elites and the consequences for America and the world.” Michiko Kakutani, New York Times “Many around the globe sense a systemic crisis. To understand the nature of this crisis, we could not find a better guide than Edward Luces The Retreat of Western Liberalism . . . Luce writes in fluid prose, moving from a telling statistic to a striking quotation. Throughout, one is struck by his command of the material and the activity of his prose he is unsparing in his condemnation of the elites who didnt see this coming.” Fareed Zakaria, New York Times Book Review “Mr. Luce offers a useful wake-up call to elites, urging them to focus on the very real struggles of America’s besieged middle class before we all lose the freedom and democracy we cherish . . . [A] concise, accessible and valuable work.” Lawrence J. Haas, Wall Street Journal “What the book offers is . . . a panorama of the unravelling world order as riveting as any beach read. Luce’s project is to explain what the recent dark turn in Western politics the rise of ultranationalism, populist demagoguery, cultural insularity, and social unrest has to do with global economics. It’s a story of trade balances and technological disruption, but also a withering dismantling of Western liberalism’s faith in progress.” Elias Muhanna, New Yorker, “What we’re reading this summer” “A brisk, timely survey . . . Mr. Luce is a shrewd observer . . . At rapid pace and with telling statistics, Mr. Luce . . . gives a knowledgeable tour through the unmapped terrain in which Western politicians and governments must now operate.” Economist “Edward Luce provides a terrifying view of the challenges facing the West. We have to hope that his prophecies are self denying something that is more likely if his penetrating analysis gets the wide attention it richly deserves.” Lawrence Summers “Read this book: In the three hours it takes you will get a new, bracing, and brilliant