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THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR *Shortlisted for the 2021 Financial
Times and McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year Award*
'This unique and fascinating history explains why the blame now
being piled upon meritocracy for many social ills is misplaced-and
that assigning responsibilities to the people best able to
discharge them really is better than the time-honoured customs of
corruption, patronage, nepotism and hereditary castes' Steven
Pinker Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced
according to their talents rather than their status at birth. For
much of history this was a revolutionary thought, but by the end of
the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology.
How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from
both right and left? Adrian Wooldridge traces the history of
meritocracy forged by the politicians and officials who introduced
the revolutionary principle of open competition, the psychologists
who devised methods for measuring natural mental abilities and the
educationalists who built ladders of educational opportunity. He
looks outside western cultures and shows what transformative
effects it has had everywhere it has been adopted, especially once
women were brought into the meritocractic system. Wooldridge also
shows how meritocracy has now become corrupted and argues that the
recent stalling of social mobility is the result of failure to
complete the meritocratic revolution. Rather than abandoning
meritocracy, he says, we should call for its renewal.
The central claim of Measuring the Mind is that, contrary to
popular opinion, the psychologists who dominated educational
policy-making between the wars were educational progressives and
political radicals. They argued that education should reflect the
requirements of children rather than the convenience of adults, and
regarded intelligence testing as an instrument of child-centered
education. These psychologists owed their political inspiration to
the meritocratic ideal and lost popularity with the waning of this
ideal after the war. Four main themes dominate the discussion: the
emergence of educational psychology as a distinct discipline; the
recent history of ideas about children's mental developments; the
role of experts in formulating educational policy; and the rise and
fall of the measurement of merit.
The central claim of Measuring the Mind is that, contrary to
popular opinion, the psychologists who dominated educational
policy-making between the wars were educational progressives and
political radicals. They argued that education should reflect the
requirements of children rather than the convenience of adults, and
regarded intelligence testing as an instrument of child-centred
education. These psychologists owed their political inspiration to
the meritocratic ideal and lost popularity with the waning of this
ideal after the war. Four main themes dominate the discussion: the
emergence of educational psychology as a distinct discipline; the
recent history of ideas about children's mental development; the
role of experts in formulating educational policy; and the rise and
fall of the measurement of merit.
An urgent and informed look at the challenges Britain and world
governments will face in a post-Covid-19 world. The Covid crisis
has not just highlighted the failures of certain governments, it is
accelerating a shift in the balance of power from West to East.
After a decade where politics in the US and the UK has been
consumed with inward-facing struggles, countries like South Korea,
Singapore, Taiwan, as well as China, have made extraordinary
advances economically, technologically and politically. In this
beautifully crafted essay, Micklethwait and Wooldridge explain how
we ended up in this mess and explore the possible routes out. If
Western governments respond creatively to the crisis, they will
have a chance of reversing decades of decline; if they dither and
delay while Asia continues to improve, the prospect of a new
Eastern-dominated world order will increase. The big question
facing the world is whether the West can rise to the challenge as
it has before.
The present day might be called a corporate age but the power of
the company is nothing new: From Renaissance Italy to the British
East India Company, it is impossible to understand the history of
the last few hundred years without placing the humble company at
the centre of the picture. What other institution could have
produced the slave trade, opium wars, the stock market and the
British Empire, the 'company man' and globalization? The history of
the company includes some shocking tales, since companies have
always rewarded some of the most greedy and unscrupulous - but they
have also undoubtedly shaped the modern world. Today companies are
increasingly regulated, but will there always be a new South Sea
Bubble or another Enron? The authors extend their historical
account to look at the company's future, which is, surprisingly, as
smaller and more diverse. They explode the myth of a 'silent
takeover' by corporations and challenge the assumptions of the
anti-globalization movement, but make the ongoing power of the
company abundantly clear.
Shortlisted for the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year
2018 'An inspiring, rip-roaring read - like the astonishing story
it describes' Liam Halligan, Daily Telegraph Where does prosperity
come from, and how does it spread through a society? What role does
innovation play in creating prosperity and why do some eras see the
fruits of innovation spread more democratically, and others,
including our own, find the opposite? In Capitalism in America,
Alan Greenspan, legendary Chair of the Federal Reserve, distils a
lifetime of grappling with these questions into a profound
assessment of the decisive drivers of the US economy over the
course of its history. In partnership with Economist journalist and
historian Adrian Wooldridge, he unfolds a tale of vast landscapes,
titanic figures and triumphant breakthroughs as well as terrible
moral failings. Every crucial American economic debate is here -
from the role of slavery in the antebellum Southern economy to
America's violent swings in its openness to global trade. At heart,
the authors argue, America's genius has been its enthusiasm for the
effects of creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of the old
giving way to the new. Although messy and painful, it has lifted
the overwhelming majority of Americans to standards of living
unimaginable even a few generations past. At a time when
productivity has again stalled, stirring populist furies, and the
continuing of American pre-eminence seems uncertain, Capitalism in
America explains why America has worked so successfully in the past
and been such a gigantic engine of economic growth.
From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist
writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution
from a small patchwork of threadbare colonies to the most powerful
engine of wealth and innovation the world has ever seen.
Shortlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book
of the Year Award From even the start of his fabled career, Alan
Greenspan was duly famous for his deep understanding of even the
most arcane corners of the American economy, and his restless
curiosity to know even more. To the extent possible, he has made a
science of understanding how the US economy works almost as a
living organism--how it grows and changes, surges and stalls. He
has made a particular study of the question of productivity growth,
at the heart of which is the riddle of innovation. Where does
innovation come from, and how does it spread through a society? And
why do some eras see the fruits of innovation spread more
democratically, and others, including our own, see the opposite? In
Capitalism in America, Greenspan distills a lifetime of grappling
with these questions into a thrilling and profound master reckoning
with the decisive drivers of the US economy over the course of its
history. In partnership with the celebrated Economist journalist
and historian Adrian Wooldridge, he unfolds a tale involving vast
landscapes, titanic figures, triumphant breakthroughs,
enlightenment ideals as well as terrible moral failings. Every
crucial debate is here--from the role of slavery in the antebellum
Southern economy to the real impact of FDR's New Deal to America's
violent mood swings in its openness to global trade and its impact.
But to read Capitalism in America is above all to be stirred deeply
by the extraordinary productive energies unleashed by millions of
ordinary Americans that have driven this country to unprecedented
heights of power and prosperity. At heart, the authors argue,
America's genius has been its unique tolerance for the effects of
creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of the old giving way to
the new, driven by new people and new ideas. Often messy and
painful, creative destruction has also lifted almost all Americans
to standards of living unimaginable to even the wealthiest citizens
of the world a few generations past. A sense of justice and human
decency demands that those who bear the brunt of the pain of change
be protected, but America has always accepted more pain for more
gain, and its vaunted rise cannot otherwise be understood, or its
challenges faced, without recognizing this legacy. For now, in our
time, productivity growth has stalled again, stirring up the
populist furies. There's no better moment to apply the lessons of
history to the most pressing question we face, that of whether the
United States will preserve its preeminence, or see its leadership
pass to other, inevitably less democratic powers.
The Right Nation is not "for" liberals, and it's not "for"
conservatives. It's for any of us who want to understand one of the
most important forces shaping American life. How did America's
government become so much more conservative in just a generation?
Compared to Europe-or to America under Richard Nixon-even President
Howard Dean would preside over a distinctly more conservative
nation in many crucial respects: welfare is gone; the death penalty
is deeply rooted; abortion is under siege; regulations are being
rolled back; the pillars of New Deal liberalism are turning to
sand. Conservative positions have not prevailed everywhere, of
course, but this book shows us why they've been so successfully
advanced over such a broad front: because the battle has been waged
by well-organized, shrewd, and committed troops who to some extent
have been lucky in their enemies.John Micklethwait and Adrian
Wooldridge, like modern-day Tocquevilles, have the perspective to
see this vast subject in the round, unbeholden to forces on either
side. They steer The Economist's coverage of the United States and
have unrivaled access to resources and-because of the magazine's
renown for iconoclasm and analytical rigor-have had open-door
access wherever the book's research has led them. And it has led
them everywhere: To reckon with the American right, you have to get
out there where its centers are and understand the power flow among
the brain trusts, the mouthpieces, the organizers, and the foot
soldiers. The authors write with wit and skewer whole herds of
sacred cows, but they also bring empathy to bear on a subject that
sees all too little of it. You won't recognize this America from
the far-left's or the far-right's caricatures. Divided into three
parts-history, anatomy, and prophecy-The Right Nation comes neither
to bury the American conservative movement nor to praise it blindly
but to understand it, in all its dimensions, as the most powerful
and effective political movement of our age. Chapter One FROM
KENNEBUNKPORT TO CRAWFORD Sir Lewis Namier, the great historian of
English politics in the age of George III, once remarked that
"English history, and especially English parliamentary history, is
made by families rather than individuals." The same could be said
of American political history, especially in the age of George I
and George II. There is no better introduction to the radical
transformation of Republicanism in the past generation-from
patrician to populist, from Northeastern to Southwestern, from
pragmatic to ideological-than the radical transformation of
Republicanism's current leading family, the Bushes. Grandfather
Prescott The Bushes began political life as classic establishment
Republicans: WASPs who summered in Kennebunkport, educated their
children at boarding schools and the Ivy League and claimed family
ties to the British royal family (Queen Elizabeth II is the
thirteenth cousin of the first President Bush). George W.'s
paternal great-grandfather, Samuel P. Bush, was a steel and
railroad executive who became the first president of the National
Association of Manufacturers and a founding member of the United
States Chamber of Commerce. His maternal great-grandfather, George
Herbert Walker, was even grander. The cofounder of W. A. Harriman,
Wall Street's oldest private investment bank, Walker's stature was
summed up by his twin Manhattan addresses: his office at One Wall
Street and his home at One Sutton Place. There was certainly muck
beneath this brass: both Walker and Bush had their share of Wall
Street shenanigans and cozy government deals, but in the age...
In The Fourth Revolution, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
ask: what is the state actually for? Their remarkable book
describes the three great revolutions in its history, and the
fourth which is happening now In most of the states of the West,
disillusion with government has become endemic. Gridlock in
America; anger in much of Europe; cynicism in Britain; decreasing
legitimacy everywhere. Most of us are resigned to the fact that
nothing is ever going to change. But as John Micklethwait and
Adrian Wooldridge show us in this galvanizing book, this is a
seriously limited view of things. In response to earlier crises in
government, there have been three great revolutions, which have
brought about in turn the nation-state, the liberal state and the
welfare state. In each, Europe and America have set the example. We
are now, they argue, in the midst of a fourth revolution in the
history of the nation-state, but this time the Western way is in
danger of being left behind. The Fourth Revolution brings the
crisis into full view and points towards our future. The authors
have enjoyed extraordinary access to influential figures and forces
the world over, and the book is a global tour of the innovators.
The front lines are in Chinese-oriented Asia, where experiments in
state-directed capitalism and authoritarian modernization have
ushered in an astonishing period of development. Other emerging
nations are producing striking new ideas, from Brazil's conditional
cash-transfer welfare system to India's application of
mass-production techniques in hospitals. These governments have not
by any means got everything right, but they have embraced the
spirit of active reform and reinvention which in the past has
provided so much of the West's comparative advantage. The race is
not just one of efficiency, but one to see which political values
will triumph in the twenty-first century: the liberal values of
democracy and freedom or the authoritarian values of command and
control. The centre of gravity is shifting quickly, and the stakes
could not be higher.
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