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 enlarge | Author: Parag Khanna
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $29.00
Buy New: $16.74
You Save: $12.26 (42%)
New (34) Used (9) from $16.12
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 10280
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1400065089
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1
EAN: 9781400065080
ASIN: 1400065089
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Must read by everyone! March 6, 2008
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
"The Second World" is a great book that the author "Parag Khanna" does an awesome job to describe the world. When you read the chapters,you feel like you are there with his smooth writing, anyone can read from all ages and can get the idea. I just congrat to the author to give us a book like this. I am sure that many people who reads the book around the world would agree with me!
The new Mr. X? March 5, 2008
12 out of 21 found this review helpful
After reading The Second World, it's hard not to see that Khanna is the new "Mr. X," the great Cold War diplomat/historian George Kennan who articulated the strategy of "containment" towards the Soviet Union in an anonymous article in Foreign Affairs in 1947. It's hard to imagine the current crop of usual suspects in the foreign policy world - Friedman, Huntington, Fukuyama, Kagan, Zakaria, Mandelbaum, etc. - driving bumpily around a hundred countries to prove their armchair theories. Khanna's advantages are obviously his multi-cultural upbringing and his youth. He cleverly decides not to engage in their stale debates about the "clash of civilizations," but rather invokes the far greater historical intellects of Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler, using their great debate to frame his narrative. Their grasp of world history - and Khanna's - proves to be far superior to the mainstream foreign policy pundits of today. It's a mystery why it's taken over a decade for someone to come along and debunk both the post-Cold War triumphalists and the hyper-alarmist neo-conservatives at the same time, but at least it's finally happened. A must read to understand the 21st century, period.
Second World is first rate original thinking March 4, 2008
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
In a dynamic world, this book offers a new theory or framework for understanding the complexities of the 21st century. Khanna does an excellent job constructing a consistent framework across multiple cultures, geographies and cultures. I have read many books in the international field and it is hard to find unique ideas - The Second World is full of them. Khanna brings geography to life in this book without being too deterministic, for in fact this book is as much about globalization (which implies the "death of distance") as it is about places and spaces. The book also has a very modern spirit, lucidly demonstrating how economic power is very often more important than military power, and that fact alone implies a rebalancing of world power. Finally, the book's bracing conclusion puts forward devastating evidence that far from remaining master of the world, the U.S. may need a "Marshall Plan" just to stay where it is. Combined with the elegant writing and on-the-ground narrative feel, this book far surpasses the competition.
Future of the American Empire March 4, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the future of the world, and more specifically the future of the United States of America. The author travelled through more then 40 countries and it shows: in every chapter there is both analysis and detailed information about each country and region. It's a fascinating view of the globe as it is today, with a conclusion that is essential for anyone trying to understand the trends shaping our world.
The book is not necessarily about the "decline" of American power, but rather a more nuanced view of the rise of the EU and China and the concurrent emergence of "the second world", all of which makes for a far more complex world that all nations and globalized citizens will have to navigate. This book is the roadmap for understanding the next few decades, and it also happens to be a fun and fascinating read. Highly recommended.
The End of The End of History March 4, 2008
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
Khanna's book is destined to be the go-to guide for American foreign policy experts and anyone concerned with the geopolitical marketplace in the next quarter century. But, as a read, it's much more than that. His travels are extensive and his engagement with the places he touches is deep--and it shows in his rich text. This is not yet another book about American decline, though it does serve as a brilliant realist assessment. More than anything, it's an exciting travelogue across the shifting landscape of power.
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