Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future

by Michael Barone

Book Overview

A Tale of Two Americas: This groundbreaking book shines a brilliant light on contemporary American life. Michael Barone reveals how the divide between "Hard America" (defined by competition and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400053242
• ISBN13: 9781400053247
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Crown Forum
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Accountability --a powerful way to see the world

It's amazing what a simple mental framework can do to help one make sense of the world. Michael Barone has come up with a particularly powerful one: Hard America/Soft America. He examines the world from the perspective of accountability. Who is accountable and who is less so because of "coddling" institutions and bureaucracies. He attacks welfarism and slackness in all its forms -- from soft-hearted education to old-style industry regulation. Fundamentally, the issue revolves around incentives. We want people and institutions to work hard, study, save, plan for the future, and be creative. Excessive regulation, protectionism, and taxation can reduce the incentives that drive these behaviours in all sectors of life. Yes, the author clearly leans right but his approach is not unbalanced by this. He lambasts post-war Big Business as being excessively coddled until people like Teddy Kennedy (!) and Michael Milken came to the rescue. Kennedy for helping to introduce competition to the transportation industries and Milken for raising the capital for the new emerging competitors. Moreover, I would guess that the author would agree that CEOs are still excessively insulated from the market by things like securities regulations. It's still too hard to launch a takeover of inefficient companies with excessively lavish executive pay packages. It would be a less catchy title but maybe "Accountable America, Unaccountable America" is more fitting to describe the essence of this book -- and the power of the framework. I guarantee you'll be looking through this framework as you interact with people and institutions in your daily life. Very recommended!

Gives a new perspective on issues in America

I had a manager who use to often comment that the right perspective could be worth as much as 20 IQ points. How you see a problem affects your ability to solve it. Even the smartest people in the world have trouble solving problems if they see the problems from a bad perspective. Michael Brone's perspective on trends and problems in American society may be worth 20 IQ points. He looks at many areas in America and breaks them down into "Hard" or "Soft". For the purposes of the book "Hard" is where there is competition and accountability; people suffer or reap the consequences of their actions. "Soft" is when people are protected from competition and not held accountable; they are coddled. The book explores changes in Education, Big Business, Government, Big Unions, Crime, Military, and other areas. One of the interesting points made in the book is that there is constant change. For example Big Business was soft 50 years ago and has grown harder; however, Education has only grown softer over the last 50 years. Michael Barone shows the consequences of what happens when an area is hard or soft. While he acknowledges there are reasons for softness, Michael Barone clearly believes that it is best for all parts of society to have some degree of hardness. The book is well written and the material is well presented. It is a quick read; the main part of the book is only 162 pages. I would have liked it to be longer. It was very thought provoking and gave me a number of ideas to think about. I found it worth reading, and felt it was a good investment of my time. The approach of looking at issues in terms of Hard or Soft does provide some good insights. Michael Barone has provided a unique perspective on life in America over the last hundred years. If you want to improve your understanding of many of the important modern issues, this is a good book to read.

Not a rightwing diatribe!

Michael Barone is one of a small group of conservative writers (David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan are two others) who are more interested in promoting ideas and engaging in dialogue than in questioning the patriotism of folks who disagree with them. The central premise of the book is explained elsewhere. My reason for writing this review is to convince readers who are moderate to slightly left of center to give this book a chance. I think Barone has a lot of interesting observations to make, and unlike the Coulters, Hannitys, and Limbaughs who pose as conservative "thinkers" he's intelligent, open-minded, and has a lot of worthwhile things to say. While he clearly is right of center, his analysis of recent American history seems to me to be fair and thought provoking. Readers on the lunatic fringe, beware - if you're looking for frothing-at- the-mouth hatred of the left, you won't find it here.The only negative thing I can say about this is that it's a bit too short. A longer section on what ails higher education would have been good. I highly recommend this book, it's going to be talked about for some time to come, I think.

Amazing...puts everything in a whole new light...a must-read

I can't believe how badly the previous reviewer missed the boat. Barone's analysis in "Hard America, Soft America" is brilliant. He provides amazing insight into what's going on in this country. And this is not just some political book, as that reviewer implied. It makes you realize that so many of our strengths--and weaknesses--as a country are connected. Barone looks at everything from our schools to our economy to our legal system to our military. Take a step back from the day-to-say political disputes and really look at what's happening: that's what Barone does here. You really have to read "Hard America, Soft America".

Excellent Analysis of the USA's Strengths & Weaknesses

Barone clearly delineates two very different modus operandi and exposes the defficiencies of one while illustrating the benefits of another. Thought-provoking and convincing, a must-read for anyone, conservative or liberal, who is interested in learning how our ideologies impact American life.