JHU SAIS to Host Book Discussion With New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman and SAIS Professor Michael Mandelbaum

MEDIA ADVISORY
September 20, 2011
 
JHU SAIS to Host Book Discussion With New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman and SAIS Professor Michael Mandelbaum
 

The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) will host a discussion of That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, a book recently co-authored by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, director of the SAIS American Foreign Policy Program, on Tuesday, September 27 at 5:30 p.m.
 
In That Used to Be Us, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Friedman and Mandelbaum analyze the four challenges the United States faces—globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation’s chronic deficits and the country’s pattern of excessive energy consumption—and spell out what needs to be done now to sustain the American dream and preserve American power in the world. They explain how the end of the Cold War blinded the nation to the need to address these issues seriously, and how China’s educational successes, industrial might and technological prowess remind Americans of the ways in which “that used to be us.” They explain how the paralysis of the political system and the erosion of key American values have made it impossible to carry out the policies the country urgently needs.
 
And yet Friedman and Mandelbaum believe that the recovery of American greatness is within reach. The authors show how America’s history, when properly understood, offers a five-part formula for prosperity that will enable the country to cope successfully with the challenges it faces.
 
SAIS also will host a live Webcast of the event accessible at www.sais-jhu.edu.
 
Attendance of this event is by invitation only. However the forum is open to the media for coverage. The event will be held in the Kenney Auditorium of the school’s Nitze Building, located at 1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C.
 
Members of the media who want to cover this event should contact Felisa Neuringer Klubes in the SAIS Communications Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].