When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?

Includes index. "Release 3.0"--Cover.

How the world became flat -- America and the flat world -- Developing countries and the flat world -- Companies and the flat world -- You and the flat world -- Geopolitics and the flat world -- Conclusion: imagination.