With evangelical fervour, Friedman explains how the end of the Cold War unleashed American capitalism around the globe. While "free market" capitalism had been a weapon in those years of missile diplomacy, the breakup of the Soviet Union left the American economic model without a major opponent. The collapse of the Berlin Wall, coinciding with the rise of the high speed digital communications, led to a new era of global finance. Once, "the sun never set on the British Empire." Now the Internet allows investment activity continuously and without hindrance. The market is never closed as international financial transactions occur constantly, and at light speed. And the market is open to anyone wishing to participate. Anyone possessing the resources, that is.

Friedman argues that the American model of capitalism is the ideal version. Government must play a minimal role. "No one is in charge" simply means no overseer to represent the community's interests. Labour unions are to be quelled. No favours are to be shown to any not meeting the new performance standards. The "wounded" firm must be killed off to allow the successful to continue. There will be disruptions in peoples' lives, but emerging new businesses will pick up any slack. The reward will be growth and enhanced living standards. The system is so well established now, according to Friedman, that it can, is and will be exported successfully around the planet. Anyone it touches need only accept it without question.

Global acceptance, of course, is the rub. The world isn't [yet] American. Scattered around our planet are numerous cultures who either haven't seen the light or resist its premise. These are the peoples who cling to their "olive trees" in defiance of Americanization. Friedman recognizes their concern over losing what they feel is valuable. He should, his interviewees have told him so often enough. He doesn't want them subjugated to an American ideal, he wants them to buy into the system voluntarily. Many want what the new economic system offers, he stresses. They simply have to learn how to adjust their values enough to bring America's financial methods into their own culture. How are they to achieve this feat? Replace restrictive or unresponsive governments. How this is to be achieved in the face of the pace of globalization is left unexplained.

Friedman's eagerness is contagious. It seems cruel to refute a man who presents his case with such honesty and in such a readable style. He carries you along with finesse and you have no feeling of being duped by someone so forthright. He wants everybody to accept his assertions because he sincerely believes those who do will benefit from the new economics. He addresses every objection, meeting each head-on with convincing arguments. He admits, for example, that not everyone has access to the digital communications making globalization possible. Easily solved, he says. One cell 'phone per village is a good start. Even the environmental concerns are [very briefly] touched - conservationists adopting capitalist tactics will save the rain forest. I'm not making this up! He means what he says.

What he fails to recognize is that high speed communication, instantaneous finance and rapid economic growth carries an exacting price. Consumption at the American pace over the whole planet means production to meet the demand. That level of production is reflected in the inroads being made on the world's resources. The pace of growth is faster than "environmentalists" can cope with. Environmental issues are brought to view only when it's too late. If people sit back, allowing unfettered capitalism to buy off their future, there won't be a world left for enjoyment of that enhanced lifestyle. Friedman rejoices in the assertion that "no one is in charge" because it means no fetters to American capitalist ideals. That lack of control may sound the knell of the ideal. Capitalism, as a philosopher once noted, carries the seeds of its own destruction. Sprouts from those seeds may be found in Mark Hertsgaard's "Earth Odyssey." Read Friedman, then immediately take up Hertsgaard. Only then can you realistically assess your own attitude. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Globalization is not new. Round I of globalization took place before World War I and was founded on cheap transportation. There was a period of relative calm until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism triggered Round II which is founded on cheap telecommunications. We can now reach further, faster, cheaper and deeper than ever before. Previously non-tradable services such as accounting, telephone answering and engineering design can now be transferred to low wage countries; production, research and marketing can be located where strategically most advantageous. The Berlin Wall did not just fall in Berlin; other walls came down in other countries at roughly the same time. Three changes caused the walls to fall - how we communicate, how we invest and how we learn. These changes allowed Thailand to move from being a low wage rice producer to the world's second largest producer of pick up trucks and the 4th largest manufacturer of motor cycles in 15 years. These changes give individuals more power to influence markets and nation states than at any time in history - as occurred when investors brought down Indonesia's Suharto in 1998. These changes allowed Jody Williams to win the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for an international ban on land mines by organizing human rights groups by e-mail. These changes allow us to tune into almost any public or private TV station worldwide so we can now see and hear through almost every conceivable wall. These changes allow a company like Cisco to close its books within an hour and to operate without paper.

Lexus in the title stems from a visit to a Toyota car factory where 66 people and 310 robots produce 300 Lexus sedans daily. Lexus represents our drive for improvement, prosperity, modernization, and innovation. The Olive tree stands for stability, family values, and a sense of belonging. The anonymous, transnational, homogenizing, standardizing forces of the Lexus are the biggest threat to the olive tree. Our challenge is to find a healthy balance between the two while recognizing that competitive pressures oblige us to build a bigger and better Lexus every day. Globalization can be likened to a race that you have to run day after day after day. However many times you win, you still have to run again next day. If you lose by a fraction of a second it is as though you lost by an hour. By just entering the race you threaten the very existence of your own olive tree. By not entering the race you may not even be around to enjoy your olive tree.

We cannot hope to understand and manage globalization without reference to all its components and how they interact with each other. Friedman has provided us with a guidebook giving the various components of globalization and suggestions on how we might go about managing globalization. This book is essential reading whether you want to be a Lexus or an olive tree.

The best part of the book though has to be the conclusions that the author draws - that there is no one group/organisation that can be held responsible for 'globalisation', that this is the best wealth creating system that we have come up with but that we must better seek to reduce the impact on the least enfranchised in society if we are to continue along this path. Very timely bearing in mind current, and continuing, world events.

I highly recommend you take a look.