Events Calendar

“This is a critical time to understand what is taking place in the world, why it is taking place, and how it will affect our lives,” writes Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), in his latest book, The World: A Brief Introduction. The book provides anyone, expert and non-expert alike, with the essential background and building blocks they need to make sense of the global era we live in, in which what happens thousands of miles away can affect our lives.

Global literacy—knowing how the world works—is essential, Haass argues, “because we live in a time in which what goes on outside a country matters a great deal. Borders are not impermeable. The United States is bordered by two oceans, but oceans are not moats. For better and for worse, the so-called Vegas rule—what happens there stays there—does not apply in today’s global world.”

As the global spread of the novel coronavirus has shown, “What begins at the local level can quickly become global,” writes Haass. This time it is COVID-19. Next time it could be another infectious disease from a different corner of the world, a group of terrorists or cyber-warriors dedicated to attacking us, or a natural disaster caused by climate change. This is the new normal of the twenty-first century—one defined by

globalization.

“While it is impossible to predict what the next crisis will be or where it will originate, we can be sure it will come, and those who read The World: A Brief Introduction will have what they need to understand its basics and the principal choices for how to respond,” said Haass.