""[An] executive summary of modern political history studded with sweeping assertions and telling anecdotes."" -- The New York Times Book Review
""Thought-provoking."" -- Kirkus Reviews
“A shot in the arm...powerful.” -- The Financial Times
""The Wake-Up Call, refreshingly concise and eminently readable, highlights how the modern crisis of governance compounded the challenges of the pandemic."" -- Bloomberg
""The Wake-Up Call argues that Covid-19 has exposed not just one president's shortcomings but a much more profound degeneration of governance dating back long before 2016...You will read no more interesting book on the political consequences of the pandemic than this."" -- Niall Ferguson, author of Civilization: The West and the Rest
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2020 (BLOOMBERG)
An urgent and informed look at the challenges America and world governments will face in a post Covid-19 world.
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that governments matter again, that competent leadership is the difference between living and dying. A few governments proved adept at handling the crisis while many others failed. Are Western governments healthy and strong enough to keep their citizens safe from another virulent virus—and protect their economies from collapse? Is global leadership passing from the United States to Asia—and particularly China?
The Wake-Up Call addresses these urgent questions. Journalists and longtime collaborators John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge identify the problems Western leaders face, and outline a detailed plan to help them become more vigilant, better prepared, and responsive to disruptive future events.
The problems that face us are enormous; as The Wake-Up Call makes clear, governments around the world must re-engineer the way they operate to successfully meet the challenges ahead.
Download and start listening now!
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
John Micklethwait is the editor-in-chief of The Economist. After studying history at Magdalen College, Oxford, he worked as a banker at Chase Manhattan between 1985 and 1987 before joining The Economist as a finance correspondent in 1987. Micklethwait has appeared on radio and television around the world, and co-authored with Adrian Wooldridge several books, including The Witch Doctors, A Future Perfect, The Company, The Right Nation, and God is Back. He was named Editors’ Editor by the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2010. He is a trustee of the British Museum.
Adrian Wooldridge was educated at Oxford and went on to work for The Economist as West Coast correspondent, social-policy correspondent, and management editor, and is currently Washington, DC, correspondent. Together with John Micklethwait, he has co-authored several books, including The Witch Doctors, A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalisation, and The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea.