Book Title: Renewing the American Dream: A Citizen’s Guide For Restoring Our Competitive Analysis by Frank Islam, George Munos, and Ed Crego (0615349773)
Publication Year: 2010
Number of Pages: (360 pages); About 3-4 hour read
Review Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Recommended: Yes
As a person who strongly believes in social justice and activism, I have read quite a lot of on the problem of the “United States decline” and ways that we can fix it from almost every different type of angle you can read. “Renewing the American Dream” was one of the first books that actually provided a rather detailed and business-oriented approach that would actually work. Like many other authors and activists, the three authors of this book agree that America is in a new era where we have declined in several areas including:
- Job creation
- Education
- Political participation
- Political consensus
- Business creation
- Social mobility
- And overall global impact….
The authors basically say that all of this inevitably leads to a loss of hope, which ultimately leads to the loss of belief in the “American Dream”. The authors argue that this belief is what led to America’s rise in the first place. Their viewpoint is that in order for America to remain competitive, any plan must include the “American Dream” in it. The authors break down and then offer recommendations for how this can be accomplished. Since this is a business book, business activities such as job creation, manufacturing, entrepreneurships, but it also covers other areas such as civic and social partnership, political participation and focus.
My Opinion: This book is actually quite a good read. It can get a little technical in some parts of the book (especially when it comes to some of the economics), but it really provides some “food for thought”. The book’s focus is slightly oriented toward the policies of the New Deal, so if you are not a fan of those type of policies (such as some government-supported jobs and policies), you might not agree with this book; otherwise the book maintains a neutral stance in most of the recommendations they are providing. Some of these recommendations seem to be so clearly easy to implement, it’s hard to see why they weren’t implemented a long time ago. There are also some fanciful ones that seem realistic, but have more hope built into them than actual detail. In either case, I was impressed with the time and energy that these authors put into creating such a work. If you have hope in America, this book is definitely one you want to take a look at. I’m only surprised that it didn’t get the attention that this book truly deserved.
About the Book
Price: $7.69 (electronic)/$15.56 (print) [Prices may vary on different websites]
Available: Abe Books, Alibris, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Daisy Books for the Print-Disabled, Kobo Books
Website: http://www.renewingtheamericandream.net/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RADCitizenGuide
Book Interview: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/10/23/renewing-the-american-dream-george-munoz-%E2%80%93-october-23-2010-2/
How much into social justice do they go? How many chapters or topics do they cover. Or do they cover segregation, the school to prison pipeline, the war on drugs, New Jim Crow, migrant rights, progressive immigration reform?
Does “Renewing the American Dream” define what the American dream is?
For some, the American dream is to get to America. To live in America.
The off-shoring of manufacturing is related to the U.S. not allowing less educated (labor) to immigrate.
And U.S. immigration policies don’t match the Statue of Liberty’s plaque “give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free.”
I understand what you are getting at.
It does state that the American Dream is an ideal, something that immigrants come to America to to reach. The book does cover immigration policies, but does not go into detail about the deeper issues behind immigration policies.