Downsizing the U. S. A. (United States) [Paperback]

Thomas H. Naylor (Author), William H. Willimon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 1997

In this trenchant analysis of American society, the authors take an unabashed stance against the belief that 'bigger is better' and warn that size and technological complexity are not risk free.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Duke University professors Naylor (emeritus, economics) and Willimon (Christian ministry) here prescribe smallness in everything, from business to the military to healthcare to education, then finally to the United States itself. Despite extensive quoting from their previous work (e.g., The Search for Meaning, LJ 2/1/94), they offer little evidence that bigness is bad or how smaller entities are better; instead, they argue from anecdote and assume that readers will agree with such premises as "Urban crime is out of control because our cities are too large." The authors build up to the conclusion that the United States should allow secession of individual states. Provocative but unconvincing.?A.J. Sobczak, formerly with California State Univ., Northridge
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Naylor is a professor emeritus of economics at Duke University; Willimon, a professor of Christian ministry at the same school. Although at first this may seem an unlikely pairing, Naylor and Willimon have successfully collaborated on several books. The Search for Meaning (1994) was based on an undergraduate seminar they, along with Magdalena Naylor, taught at Duke. Here the two move beyond campus to continue their search for purpose and significance. Practically everywhere they turn, they see Americans paying a high price for the bigness and complexity of modern society, and they warn that imposed unity and universality are false solutions. They invoke the image of the U.S. as a modern-day Babel and hold out rural areas as the only possibility of hope, "because in the countryside farms, villages, towns, schools, churches, and governments are still small enough to fix." Naylor and Willimon appropriate the term downsizing for their own use; it becomes a tool for clearing away the physical and spiritual clutter in our lives to help us discover that less really can be more. David Rouse

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (July 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802843301
• ISBN-13: 978-0802843302
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,721,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For the outside-the-box thinker May 28, 1998

By craigsl

Format:Paperback

Naylor and Willimon offer a simple yet challenging suggestion to our churches, schools, universities, and government: grow smaller, not bigger. In so doing, the authors manage to make a credible case for seccession for states.

This book will make you reinvestigate your constitutional views and actually ponder the plausibility of a peaceful breakup or splitoff of the United States. These radical ideas are apt to gain a mainstream following, particularly for those disenfranchised with the state of our current welfare, social security, and public school systems. My only complaint with the book was that the end came too soon.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a thought-provoking argument July 28, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you also believe the answer to many of our social woes is a return to "community" and a reverse course away from impersonalization, the arguments in this book will appeal to you. More than an emotional cry for "smaller is better", rather one based on deep intellectual and rational thinking.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviews of Downsizing the U.S.A. from the Publisher November 24, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

"Very thoughtful! I enojoyed Downsizing the U.S.A. very much." Richard D. Lamm, former Governor of Colorado; Director, Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues, University of Denver

"Legions of Americans, stalled in traffic jams or holding for the next available customer representative on the telephone, will agree with this book's central thesis: big is bad." Publisher's Weekly

"Practically everywhere [Naylor and Willimon] turn they see Americans paying a high price for the bigness and complexity of modern society, and they warn that imposed unity and universality are false solutions. They invoke the image of the U.S. as a modern-day Babel. Downsizing becomes a tool for clearing away the physical and spiritual clutter in our lives to help us discover that less really can be more." Booklist

"The company's too big to be profitable, so it "downsizes," the trendy word for laying people off. Naylor and Willimon go the corporate managers one better and suggest downsizing everything--cities, government, schools, churches, the military, and the welfare system. The future of business, and of people, lies locally, they argue." The Associated Press