The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia's Quest for Wealth - Softcover

Schuman, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061346691 ISBN 13: 9780061346699

Publisher: Harper Business, 2010

Synopsis

In little more than a generation, Asia has emerged from centuries of stagnation to become the rising force of the global economy. This transformation has been so spectacular that some have called it a miracle. How did it happen? Taking the reader from the docksides of Korea to the halls of India's finance ministry, The Miracle details the courageous decisions and heroic self-sacrifice that made Asia's ascent possible. Spanning nine countries and probing major historical currents, this account illuminates not only Asia's extraordinary economic rise but also how its causes might emancipate the developing world from poverty and guide the developed world to further prosperity.

Using more than a decade of reporting and analysis, Time magazine and former Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Schuman uncovers how outsourcing to Asia began; how Asia's most famous companies, such as Sony and Honda, became global corporations; and how technological changes and global economic shifts made Asia's boom possible. He reveals the compelling human side to this economic story, introducing readers to the political strongmen, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who made the Miracle a reality. This engaging historical narrative brings to life the ideas and actions of a diverse group of Asians—dictators and democrats, generals and technocrats, economists and engineers.

Some of the characters in the book have captured the global imagination for years, such as China's reformer Deng Xiaoping and Sony founder Akio Morita. Others are less well known, including Park Chung Hee, Korea's tightfisted nation builder; Liu Chuanzhi, the risk-taking founder of PC maker Lenovo;

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Schuman has been a business journalist in Asia for more than ten years. He is currently the Asia business correspondent for Time and covers economic issues for the entire continent. He also spent more than six years as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia. He won an Overseas Press Club Award with other Wall Street Journal reporters for the newspaper's coverage of the 1997 Asian economic crisis. Prior to his experience in Asia, Mr. Schuman was a staff writer at Forbes. He lives in Hong Kong.

From Publishers Weekly:

The dynamic Asian tiger economies, with their export-focused, state industrial policies, defy laissez-faire economic orthodoxies; this insightful history sheds light on their controversial achievements. Time magazineÖs business correspondent Schuman surveys behemoths China, Japan and India, middleweight powerhouses like Taiwan and Korea and oft-neglected developing countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, examining their economies through profiles of the government and business leaders. His evenhanded treatment of the Asian model notes both its successes—spectacular growth and technological progress—and failings—crony capitalism and sometimes stifling government regulation—while exploring the complexities and effectiveness of its various national versions. The clearest policy message is the authorÖs not entirely convincing endorsement of globalization and free trade, which, he insists, benefit South Carolina as much as South Korea. To reassure readers that free market verities still hold, Schuman includes stories about scrappy Asian entrepreneurs who built startups into world-class corporate juggernauts, sometimes helped and sometimes hindered by government economic planners. Schuman writes in the same vein of anecdotal pop-economic analysis as Thomas Friedman, with less grandiosity and more nuance; the result is a thoughtful, reader-friendly look at the crucial economic developments of our age. (July)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Business
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061346691
• ISBN 13: 9780061346699
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464