The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream

by Jeremy Rifkin

Overview

The national bestseller that shows how the American Dream is languishing, surpassed worldwide by a powerful alternative in the lifestyle of the new Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101118573
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/18/2005
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
File size:	522 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

One of the most popular social thinkers of our time, Jeremy Rifkin is the bestselling author of The European Dream, The Hydrogen Economy, The Age of Access, The Biotech Century, and The End of Work. A fellow at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program, he is president of The Foundation on Economic Trends in Bethesda, MD.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Introduction.

New Lessons from the Old World.

1. The Slow Death of the American Dream.

2. The New Land of Opportunity.

3. The Quiet Economic Miracle.

The Making of the Modern Age.

4. Space, Time and Modernity.

5. Inventing the Ideology of Property.

6. Forging Capitalist Markets and Nation States.

The Coming Global Era.

7. Network Commence in a Globalized Economy.

8. The “United States” of Europe.

9. Government Without a Centre.

10. Romancing the Civil Society.

11. The Immigrant Dilemma.

12. Unity in Diversity.

13. Waging Peace.

14. A Second Enlightenment.

15. Universalizing the European Dream

Editorial Reviews

Why are so few Americans paying attention to the dramatic changes taking place across the Atlantic, Rifkin (The End of Work) asks in his provocative and well-argued manifesto for the new European Union. Famously, Americans "live to work" while Europeans "work to live," and Rifkin demonstrates statistically and anecdotally that Europe's humane approach to capitalism makes for a healthier, better-educated populace. The U.S. lags behind in its unimaginative approach to working hours, productivity and technology, Rifkin claims, while Europe is leading the way into a new era while competing well in terms of productivity. Rifkin traces the cultural roots of what he says is America's lack of vision to its emphasis on individual autonomy and the accumulation of wealth; Europe's dream is more rooted in connectedness and quality of life. Americans may be risk takers, but Rifkin is more admiring of risk-sensitive European realism, as well as its secularism and social democracy. Exploring the history behind the two continents' wildly differing sensibilities, Rifkin examines the myth of the U.S. as "land of opportunity" and the two continents' contrasting attitudes to foreign policy, peace keeping and foreign aid. Rifkin's claims are not new, but he writes with striking clarity, combining the insights of contemporary sociologists and economists with up-to-the minute data and powerfully apt journalistic observations. While he may appear to idealize Europe's new direction, Rifkin's comparative study is scrupulously thorough and informative, and his rigor will please all readers interested in the future of world affairs. Agent, Jim Stein. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The new European dream celebrated by Rifkin "emphasizes community relationships over individual autonomy, cultural diversity over assimilation, quality of life over the accumulation of wealth, sustainable development over unlimited material growth, deep play over unrelenting toil, universal human rights and the rights of nature over property rights, and global cooperation over the unilateral exercise of power." Insofar as this book is a response to Robert Kagan's somewhat cartoonish view of Europe (as Venus, to the United States' Mars), it both celebrates the virtues that Kagan dismisses and aims to refute the proudly Martian view of the United States that Kagan holds. Kaganites will find much here that they will once again deem absurd: Rifkin is concerned with individual quality of life, not political and military power. He also overlooks glaring differences among European nations. Nevertheless, it will be a pity if American overconfidence leads them to ignore this valiant attempt to show that the American way of organizing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not necessarily the best (even if some of Rifkin's musings on "the third stage of human consciousness" are a bit windy). Rifkin is no starry-eyed idealist-he questions the "thickness" of the European dream and the persistence of European cynicism-and he has studied Europe seriously and with an open mind. His book deserves to be read.

Foreign Affairs

"The European Dream should be required reading on both sides of the Atlantic."

Andrew Moravcsik, Financial Times

"Jeremy Rifkin, whose European Dream compares the economic and cultural boasts of the United States against the statistical and European reality, is that rare phenomenon: a management guru on the left of US politics, who eschews jargon, questions assumptions and feels as comfortable in Europe as in the US. Rifkin's argument is so compelling because it uses simple facts and figures to challenge US claims of supremacy."

Mary Dejevsky, The Independent,

"Rifkin gives Europeans something to cheer us up and to which we should urgently aspire. "

Chris Patten, The Guardian

Occasionally, in history, an outside observer is best able to define the spirit of a people. In 1831, for example, the French political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited a young America and wrote about his experiences in a book entitled Democracy in America. De Tocqueville helped Americans understand the American Dream and its importance for the world. Now, an American observer, Jeremy Rifkin, has written a book about the new European Dream which captures the very essence of the great experiment unfolding in Europe and its importance for a globalizing society. Europeans are in the midst of a profound debate about our vision of the future. Mr. Rifkin’s book mirrors the European soul, providing us a clear reflection of who we are, and what we stand for and aspire to in the new Europe. The European Dream is a thoughtful and inspiring work."

Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission

From the Publisher