Gabor Steingart's The War for Wealth (book review)

First off, I would like to thank the publisher of this book, McGraw-Hill, for choosing me to recieve a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. I was not paid in any way, and this review is the result of a gentlemen's agreement and nothing more.

Gabor Steingart's The War for Wealth is an interesting look at the future of globalization that looks back at the economic history of the world and makes some warnings/projections of what the future holds. The subtitle of this book is The True Story of Globalization, or Why the Flat World is Broken. It will make you think twice about buying something that was 'Made in China'.

In a nutshell, this book warns about the rising economic power of China. It talks of how so many leaders are all wrapped up in the 'war on terror' that they are letting China, as well as India, economically grow in leaps and bounds while American and European countries lose money. Steingart warns that if we don't start being careful, China will overtake the rest of the world as the leading economic power. His concern is that Chinese human rights violations are only going to get worse as the country further industrializes, and that the rest of us who enjoy those cheap 'Made in China' products are contributing to the kind of problems we'd never tolerate in the United States.

In the early parts of this book, the author goes into a good bit of detail about the history of China and India. He writes about how internal problems kept these countries from growing for centuries, and it wasn't until fairly recently that they started to put things back on track. While it took so long for these countries to get their act together, the result has been expeditious economic growth. He cites China as being a major contender in the electronics market, but also mentions how they are notorious for stealing technology. As for India, anyone who has ever had to call in for tech support to Dell or BellSouth knows how things are going there.

In the end, I found The War for Wealth to be quite compelling. It presents an interesting look at the future of the world economic status, and the author concludes with the suggestion that America and Europe must unite in order to strengthen forces. He supports this with a speech from President John F. Kennedy, given on Independence Day in 1962, and mentions how important Kennedy's suggestion is today, now more than ever.

This review also appears on Epinions.com.