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Title details for The Fix by Jonathan Tepperman - Available

The Fix

How Nations Survive and Thrive in a World in Decline

by Jonathan Tepperman
Dan Woren
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
A provocative look at the world’s most difficult, seemingly ineradicable problems—and the surprising stories of the countries that solved them.
 
We all know the bad news. The heady promise of the Arab Spring has given way to repression, civil war, and an epic refugee crisis. Economic growth is sputtering. Income inequality is rising around the world. And the threat of ISIS and other extremist groups keeps spreading. We are living in an age of unprecedented, irreversible decline—or so we’re constantly being told.
Jonathan Tepperman’s The Fix presents a very different picture. The book reveals the often-overlooked success stories, offering a provocative, unconventional take on the answers hiding in plain sight. It identifies ten pervasive and seemingly impossible challenges—including immigration reform, economic stagnation, political gridlock, corruption, and Islamist extremism—and shows that, contrary to the general consensus, each has a solution, and not merely a hypothetical one. In his close analysis of government initiatives as diverse as Brazil’s Bolsa Família program, Indonesia’s campaign against radicalism, Canada’s early embrace of multiculturalism, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to prevent another 9/11, Tepperman isolates the universally applicable measures that can boost and buttress equality, incomes, cooperation, and cohesion in wildly diverse societies. He flips conventional political wisdom on its head, showing, for example, how much the U.S. Congress could learn about compromise and conciliation from its counterpart in Mexico.
Tepperman has traveled the world to write this book, conducting more than a hundred interviews with the people behind the policies. Meticulously researched and deeply reported, The Fix presents practical advice for problem-solvers of all stripes, and stands as a necessary corrective to the hand-wringing and grim prognostication that dominates the news, making a data-driven case for optimism in a time of crushing pessimism.
With an Introduction read by the Author

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 20, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780735286474
      • File size: 284741 KB
      • Duration: 09:53:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The subtitle of this audiobook is somewhat misleading. The author's point is not really that the world is in decline, merely that there are some grave issues confronting it. Therefore, countries have to work harder to improve themselves. He outlines 10 major challenges facing the world and how specific countries are addressing, and succeeding in solving, these problems. Tepperman reads the introduction with a serviceable but thin voice, while Dan Woren narrates the rest of the book. Woren's animated voice moves the discussion along--at about 85 miles per hour. He accentuates the author's main points but reads far too quickly and swallows too many words. The result is a book that listeners may have to rewind a lot--but it's worth listening because of the importance of the topic. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 20, 2016
      Tepperman, managing editor of Foreign Affairs, examines global problem solving in this survey of how 10 countries and their respective leaders addressed concerns such as Islamic fundamentalism, inequality, and political corruption. His survey is global, providing an in-depth look at such controversial figures as Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Harry Lee of Singapore, and Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico. He tells the story of how Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Canada devised an immigration policy that “abandoned ethnicity” in favor of “educational, professional, and technical qualifications.” He explains how Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s welfare program “Bolsa Família” (Family Grant) curbed inequality by providing cash assistance to its recipients. In the United States, he looks at how the fracking industry was developed under President Gerald Ford’s leadership, and how former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tackled post-9/11 security issues. He concludes that the world’s leaders will only solve the biggest problems by putting party alliances and ideology aside. The book is an enjoyable read, even for those less informed about foreign policy. Tepperman’s attempt to provide solutions rather than mere analysis of the problems is noble, even if many readers will disagree with the solutions he puts forward.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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