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That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World We Invented-- and How We Can Come Back (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series) Hardcover – Large Print, October 7, 2011
| Thomas L. Friedman (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| Michael Mandelbaum (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Enhance your purchase
- Print length695 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherThorndike Press
- Publication dateOctober 7, 2011
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-109781410441287
- ISBN-13978-1410441287
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Product details
- ASIN : 1410441288
- Publisher : Thorndike Press; Large Print edition (October 7, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 695 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781410441287
- ISBN-13 : 978-1410441287
- Item Weight : 1.65 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,246,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,805 in Political Economy
- #6,884 in Philosophy & Social Aspects of Education
- #9,155 in Economic Conditions (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Thomas L. Friedman has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize three times for his work with The New York Times, where he serves as the foreign affairs columnist. Read by everyone from small-business owners to President Obama, Hot, Flat, and Crowded was an international bestseller in hardcover. Friedman is also the author of From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989), The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1999), Longitudes and Attitudes (2002), and The World is Flat (2005). He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and is the director of the American Foreign Policy Program there. He has also held teaching posts at Harvard and Columbia Universities, and at the United States Naval Academy.
His most recent book, written with co-author Thomas L. Friedman, is THAT USED TO BE US: HOW AMERICA FELL BEHIND IN THE WORLD IT INVENTED AND HOW WE CAN COME BACK. Its publication date is September 5, 2011.
He serves on the board of advisors of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington-based organization sponsoring research and public discussion on American policy toward the Middle East.
A graduate of Yale College, Professor Mandelbaum earned his Master's degree at King's College, Cambridge University and his doctorate at Harvard University.
Professor Mandelbaum is the author or co-author of numerous articles and of 13 books: That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back (2011) with co-author Thomas L. Friedman; The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era (2010); Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government (2007); The Case For Goliath: How America Acts As The World's Government in the Twenty-first Century (2006); The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football and Basketball and What They See When They Do (2004); The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free Markets in the Twenty-First Century (2002); The Dawn of Peace in Europe (1996); The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the 19th and 20th Centuries (1988); The Global Rivals, (co-author, 1988); Reagan and Gorbachev (co-author, 1987); The Nuclear Future (1983); The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After Hiroshima (1981); and The Nuclear Question: The United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1946-1976 (1979). He is also the editor of twelve books.
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The most important component of the authors ‘solution is education. The US can put itself back on the top, or vie for the top by teaching students to think critically and use technology (and keep learning the new technology as it is invented). This will propel the US back to being the leader in the world economy.
As a former High School physics teacher I concur with most of what the authors but not with the authors’ solution to improving education. First, the authors assume schools are failing based on several standards including international test scores. My school had an exchange with one of our administrators and the head of the Shanghai school system. The Shanghai administrator, who spent a week at our school, told our faculty that while the US had a representative sample of all schools take the international test while China only allowed students from Shanghai, their best school district, to take the test. Not surprisingly the Chinese students came in first. There are other apples-and-oranges in international testing that call into question the validity of the test comparisons. Based on that the Shanghai administrator told us that we (a suburban school) should not put much stock in the test results because he saw firsthand that we were doing an excellent job.
Second, not all schools are equal, even among public schools. Suburban schools have distinct advantages over urban schools (more money; more stable families; parents with more education, affecting the aspirations of their children) and rural schools (size matters; a full time physics teacher can devote more time to a subject than a teacher who has to teach physics, chemistry, and earth science). This does not mean that all suburban teachers are better than urban or rural ones are, but by and large the various factors add up to advantages for suburban schools.
Finally, the authors want to make teachers better by incentivizing them with some bonuses, being resigned to the fact that we won’t pay teachers commensurate with their role in society. They believe that teachers will teach regardless of low pay because the want to teach. In the real world money matters, real money not just smaller bonuses for a few. School districts who can offer higher pay have a larger pool of candidates from which they hire. In addition, many who would like to teach and may make very good teachers choose not become educators because of the student debt they have accrued. When society wants to give the teaching profession more respect, including better salaries, teaching will improve because more good candidates will choose teaching. When schools can afford to offer teachers more preparation time the teachers will become more affective. Also, when schools can afford to have a longer school year and pay teachers for working 220 days like in some countries (instead of 180 in the US) education will improve.
It is a good read. I would encourage reading "That Used to be Us" and "The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies" by Joseph Joffe as a counter. Joffe argues that the US will not fall off the planet because the US has been in this position before and has been able to adapt and move forward. The two books together can give the reader a more balanced approach to reality.
Otherwise, the rest of the work is fairly level and even excoriating, with at most times an understated understanding of top-down corruption and the necessity for grass roots reform. Yes, the American electorate is lazy and illiterate.
At times the fact that Mr. Friedman may approach these issues with his perspective on international politics might pose some disservice to truth telling. That is to say, to understand "what went wrong" with America has less to do with U.S. foreign policy perspectives and America's relative position in the world and more to do with the "decline of empire" and decadence of the 1% elite. An elite run-amok, self-serving and in total control of political propaganda.
A second major criticism of the work is failure to mention the abolition of "The Fairness Doctrine" under President Ronald Reagan's FCC in 1987.
Together, with repeal of Glass-Steagall (financial regulation) in 1999 under President Clinton, there are no more significant benchmarks of the decline of fact-based journalism and public honesty, and of the inherent fraud in financial markets.
All in all, though, this should be required reading at the university level, together with "The World is Flat" (3 separate editions with the first being substantially more "emphatic") and "Hot, Flat, and Crowded."
In order to achieve the above, their are four areas that we must improve upon as a world power. The authors discuss these areas and suggest what needs to be done. And they are able to draw upon the influence of other nations upon these same areas needing improvement. We can no longer stand alone or preach isolationism as done many decades ago. All nations, friendly and unfriendly are connected at the hip. We are interdependent upon one another whether we desire it or not. The internet and world wide economic-political influences are the glue that bind us together or draws us apart..
This book has a fresh appeal since the influence of Mandelbaum has added creditability to the over all work. I highly recommend that you read this book and let its message influence your vote in 2016. We all have the responsibility to become informed and vote intelligently. So now is the time to prepare.
Top reviews from other countries
However the solutions to the current, real-world problems that 'That used to be us' suggests has are not getting done and everyday seem to further away from politians minds. As they explain, America has a vital role to play in the modern world but if they continue on the present path the whole world suffers. Argueing about exactly where the president was born, a mostly pointless exercise in Afganistan and illegal immigrant arguements, while the rest of the world (especially Asia) improves its education, infrastructure, and development is suicide.
As a European living and working in Asia, i found this book about and for Americans personally scary.
It's a good book, but so much has happened in the past 4 years since this book was written that it all feels a bit dated.
The book is good, the premise of the book is still true, but not a book with a long shelf life.
got bored within 100 pages.








