Search Results for: The Future is Asian

Five billion people, two-thirds of the world’s mega-cities, one-third of the global economy, two-thirds of global economic growth, thirty of the Fortune 100, six of the ten largest banks, eight of the ten largest armies, five nuclear powers, massive technological innovation, the newest crop of top-ranked universities. Asia is also the world’s most ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse region of the planet, eluding any remotely meaningful generalization beyond the geographic label itself. Even for Asians, Asia is dizzying to navigate.

Whether you gauge by demography, geography, economy or any other metric, Asia is already the present – and it is certainly the future. It is for this reason that we cannot afford to continue to get Asia so wrong. The Future Is Asian accurately shows Asia from the inside-out, telling the story of how this mega-region is coming together and reshaping the entire planet in the process.

A timely, meditative book reasserting the power of the individual, from the author of THE COLOR PURPLE.

‘It is the worst of times. It is the best of times. Try as I might I cannot find a more appropriate opening for this volume’

Terrorist attacks, natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and the flooding of New Orleans, the reality of global warming, ongoing warfare in Iraq and the de-stabilisation of the Middle East – sometimes the future can seem bleak, if not frightening. Yet this is not a pessimistic book. Taking a line from the poet June Jordan who said ‘We are the Ones we have been waiting for’ – Alice Walker reasserts the power of the individual in making political change happen. In short, we can ‘fix things’ by focusing on what we share as human beings rather than what separates us.

Looking at subjects as diverse as sending our children to war, the rich/poor divide, Nature, the I Ching, modern gender roles, women in the military, and even a piece on her dog Marley, Alice Walker looks towards an optimistic view of the future through a more intuitive understanding of the self and the world around us.