The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Great for the West will be published by Basic Books January 7th, 2014.
America is in decline, and the rise of the East suggests a bleak future for the world’s only superpower – so goes the conventional wisdom. But what if the traditional measures of national status are no longer as important as they once were? What if America’s well-being was assessed according to entirely different factors? In The Upside of Down, I argue that America’s so-called decline is only relative to the newfound success of other countries. And there is tremendous upside to life in a wealthier world: Americans can benefit from better choices and cheaper prices offered by schools and hospitals in rising countries, and, without leaving home, avail themselves of the new inventions and products those countries will produce. The key to thriving in this world is to move past the jeremiads about America’s deteriorating status and figure out how best to take advantage of its new role in a multipolar world.
I've written both a New America and CGD blog about the book as well as in the Atlantic, Time, the Washington Post the Globalist and 'the page 99 test'. Extracts appeared in Politico and Salon, and I've talked about the book on a CGD Wonkcast, a CGD launch event, the Financial Times' Alphaville podcast, to Josh Keating in Slate, to Kira Zalan in US News and World Report, with Reuters TV, NHPR, Wisconsin Public Radio, Bloomberg Radio and New America's Weekly Wonk.
Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly and Diane Coyle all say nice things but think the book is too optimistic. Tyler Cowen calls the book excellent. The Diplomat a great read. Lawrence Haddad likes it but thinks it won't persuade. Doug Saunders discusses the book in the Globe and Mail, Ian Birrell in The Guardian, Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN (!), Ali Wyne in the Boston Review, Josh Kim on the Inside Higher Ed blog, Tom Murphy on Humanosphere Reihan Salam on Reuters Blogs and Ed Luce in the FT and it appears (briefly) in this NYT article and this Bloomberg piece by Ezra Klein.