The most
notable facet of this book, for me, is its lack of a dogmatic or partisan point
of view. Ira Kaufman and Velimir Srića’s The
World is Broken, We Need to Fix It: Path to Strategic Harmony acknowledges
and examines the many challenges humanity faces nearly twenty years into the 21st
century, but it never latches onto a particular school of political thought,
but rather takes a broad-based humanistic approach. The book’s introduction
lays this out with a clearly written and authoritative tone, but there’s never
a hint of hectoring or preaching in the book’s “voice”. Instead, they sketch
out the work’s thesis and prepare readers for what is to come.
The authors
do an exceptional job early on of fleshing out the book’s central idea of
“strategic harmony”. Some may greet the idea that what we think, do, feel, and
hope for is a simplistic framework for restructuring the world as we know it
today and realizing genuine change, but the writers build their case
convincingly without ever viewing the world and their ideas through “rose
colored glasses”. Moreover, they often back up their argument with well-chosen
research further buttressing their arguments. Again, it is a hallmark of this
thoughtful work just how well delineated such moments are and it strengthens
the book as a whole. Even those readers who either disagree or remain skeptical
will acknowledge the passion and, above all else, the intelligence behind Kaufman
and Srića’s presentation.
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I like how
the writers preface each chapter with well chosen epigrams from a variety of
source and how they systematically dismantle a series of what they deem to be
“myths” in our modern society without ever taking on a sour tone. The main body
of the work goes on to break down each of the author’s underlying ideas without
ever immersing the reader in a wealth of needless detail. Some of the
terminology they adopt, words like “catalytic” and “catalyzers”, are not
inaccessible to the casual reader – rather they illustrate how the proposed
values should be synthesized into a multi-threaded approach towards transforming
every aspect of our modern world. They provide, at key points, illustrations
further elaborating on their ideas and many readers will find those helpful.
They bring
the book to a satisfying conclusion by decisively tying the aforementioned
threads together. Everything matters – the economic, socio-political,
political, technological, and they note how their ideas can and will, if
pursued, reshape each of those elements. The same lack of hectoring or
high-handedness present in the beginning of this work remains strong at its
conclusion and demonstrates the overall balance characterizing Kaufman and
Srića’s style. Despite being a relatively lengthy work, even readers with a
cursory interest in the challenges faced by humanity today will find The World is Broken, We Need to Fix It: Path
to Strategic Harmony an illuminating read, but those who are truly engaged
with those challenges will take a step further – they will find this book to be
essential reading and return to it again and again.
Mindy McCall
