About the Author

Amy Chua is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is a noted expert in the fields of international business, ethnic conflict, and globalization. Her first book, World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, a New York Times bestseller, was selected by both The Economist and the U.K.'s Guardian as one of the Best Books of the Year. Her second book, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance-and Why They Fall, was a critically acclaimed Foreign Affairs bestseller. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

"A riveting and original book that challenges key tenets of American political faith." —The Baltimore Sun

“World on Fire deserves to be widely read. It is a welcome antidote to the recycled mantras of the market-cheering right and the tired rhetoric of the anti-globalization left.” —The American Prospect

“Fascinating and disturbing . . . with an authority born of rigorous research.” —BusinessWeek

"Provocative, evocative, nuanced, and highly readable. . . . Amy Chua deserves our gratitude." —The Washington Post

"Superb. . . . Encourages us to confront the world as it is, and our actual place in it, with a humane and intellectually formidable imagination." —The New York Observer

“This hard-hitting book should be read by everyone who still imagines that free markets can solve all the world’s ills. Chua’s work is provocative, creative, and important; it turns conventional wisdom on its head, and no one interested in globalization can afford to ignore it.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America

“Provocative. . . . Shocking. . . . It should make Americans think twice about exporting their political culture wholesale without a thought of who dislikes whom.”—Seattle Times

“[World on Fire] makes for compelling reading and sounds a sobering warning that should be heeded by all supporters and critics of globalization.” —Milwaukee Journal–Sentinel

“A profound book, written in plain English, and challenging the very foundations of some glib—and dangerous—assumptions behind American foreign policy. This book should be read in the highest circles of decision-making, as well as by all those who like to consider themselves ‘thinking people.’ It should provoke some re-thinking—and, for some, really thinking for the first time.”—Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, and author of Ethnic America, Race and Culture

“A brilliant, groundbreaking assault on the prevailing wisdom that the American political and economic model is a one-stop solution to the world’s woes.” —Elle

“Grim and thoughtful. . . . A clear-headed incisive diagnosis of the many ethnic ills of the globalizing era.” —Mother Jones

“Clear and persuasive. . . . Chua is a careful, precise writer.” —Salon

“Chua’s book is a lucid, powerfully argued, and important contribution to the debate over the forces and factors shaping the twenty-first century world.” —Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution, and author of The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11

“A cogent analysis...convincingly reason[ed].”—The Boston Herald

“Chua offers a fundamentally new perspective on how to help sustain globalization by spreading its benefits while curbing its most destructive aspects. . . . Compelling.” —The Tampa Tribune

“Remarkably illuminating. . . . I cannot think of another work over the past couple of decades that reveals more about the disturbing persistence internationally of racial and ethnic conflicts.” —Randall Kennedy, author of Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

“Drawing on examples from Burma to Bolivia, Chua paints a nuanced picture of ethnic and national fault lines. . . . [She] fleshes out the idea that globalization is not a magical elixir for developing nations.” —Newsweek

“A barrage of examples supports Chua’s thesis, each described with careful consideration of the different circumstances of different nations. . . . [T]old with a dramatic flair. . .” – The Weekly Standard

“The greatest tribute to any book is the conviction upon closing it that the senseless finally makes sense. That’s the feeling left by Amy Chua’s World on Fire.” —The Washington Post

A professor at Yale Law School, Chua eloquently fuses expert analysis with personal recollections to assert that globalization has created a volatile concoction of free markets and democracy that has incited economic devastation, ethnic hatred and genocidal violence throughout the developing world. Chua illustrates the disastrous consequences arising when an accumulation of wealth by "market dominant minorities" combines with an increase of political power by a disenfranchised majority. Chua refutes the "powerful assumption that markets and democracy go hand in hand" by citing specific examples of the turbulent conditions within countries such as Indonesia, Russia, Sierra Leone, Bolivia and in the Middle East. In Indonesia, Chua contends, market liberalization policies favoring wealthy Chinese elites instigated a vicious wave of anti-Chinese violence from the suppressed indigenous majority. Chua describes how "terrified Chinese shop owners huddled behind locked doors while screaming Muslim mobs smashed windows, looted shops and gang-raped over 150 women, almost all of them ethnic Chinese." Chua blames the West for promoting a version of capitalism and democracy that Westerners have never adopted themselves. Western capitalism wisely implemented redistributive mechanisms to offset potential ethnic hostilities, a practice that has not accompanied the political and economic transitions in the developing world. As a result, Chua explains, we will continue to witness violence and bloodshed within the developing nations struggling to adopt the free markets and democratic policies exported by the West. (On sale Dec. 24) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

"A riveting and original book that challenges key tenets of American political faith." -The Baltimore Sun

"World on Fire deserves to be widely read. It is a welcome antidote to the recycled mantras of the market-cheering right and the tired rhetoric of the anti-globalization left." -The American Prospect

"Fascinating and disturbing . . . with an authority born of rigorous research." -BusinessWeek

"Provocative, evocative, nuanced, and highly readable. . . . Amy Chua deserves our gratitude." -The Washington Post

"Superb. . . . Encourages us to confront the world as it is, and our actual place in it, with a humane and intellectually formidable imagination." -The New York Observer

"This hard-hitting book should be read by everyone who still imagines that free markets can solve all the world's ills. Chua's work is provocative, creative, and important; it turns conventional wisdom on its head, and no one interested in globalization can afford to ignore it."-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America

"Provocative. . . . Shocking. . . . It should make Americans think twice about exporting their political culture wholesale without a thought of who dislikes whom."-Seattle Times

"[World on Fire] makes for compelling reading and sounds a sobering warning that should be heeded by all supporters and critics of globalization." -Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

"A profound book, written in plain English, and challenging the very foundations of some glib-and dangerous-assumptions behind American foreign policy. This book should be read in the highest circles of decision-making, as well as by all those who like to consider themselves 'thinking people.' It should provoke some re-thinking-and, for some, really thinking for the first time."-Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, and author of Ethnic America, Race and Culture

"A brilliant, groundbreaking assault on the prevailing wisdom that the American political and economic model is a one-stop solution to the world's woes." -Elle

"Grim and thoughtful. . . . A clear-headed incisive diagnosis of the many ethnic ills of the globalizing era." -Mother Jones

"Clear and persuasive. . . . Chua is a careful, precise writer." -Salon

"Chua's book is a lucid, powerfully argued, and important contribution to the debate over the forces and factors shaping the twenty-first century world." -Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution, and author of The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11

"A cogent analysis...convincingly reason[ed]."-The Boston Herald

"Chua offers a fundamentally new perspective on how to help sustain globalization by spreading its benefits while curbing its most destructive aspects. . . . Compelling." -The Tampa Tribune

"Remarkably illuminating. . . . I cannot think of another work over the past couple of decades that reveals more about the disturbing persistence internationally of racial and ethnic conflicts." -Randall Kennedy, author of Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

"Drawing on examples from Burma to Bolivia, Chua paints a nuanced picture of ethnic and national fault lines. . . . [She] fleshes out the idea that globalization is not a magical elixir for developing nations." -Newsweek

"A barrage of examples supports Chua's thesis, each described with careful consideration of the different circumstances of different nations. . . . [T]old with a dramatic flair. . ." - The Weekly Standard

"The greatest tribute to any book is the conviction upon closing it that the senseless finally makes sense. That's the feeling left by Amy Chua's World on Fire." -The Washington Post