Europe's Promise - by Steven Hill (Paperback)

About the Book

"Steven Hill ends the transatlantic debate over which economic and political system is superior: Europe wins. While America and China fight for oil and minerals, Europe already achieves more with less. Indeed, the path to the American Dream is the European Way."--Parag Khanna, author of "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order"
"Like a reverse Alexis de Tocqueville, Steven Hill dauntlessly explores a society largely unknown to his compatriots back home. Sweeping away the ideological posturing, he shows us exactly how the modern European Way works and the promise it holds for an America which has slipped to become, in terms of social, economic and energy policy, the Old World."--Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, "The New Yorker," author of "Obamanos!: The Birth of a New Political Era"
""Europe's Promise" should startle, inform, and galvanize Americans in raising the ante in favor of a political economy where people matter first."--Ralph Nader
"As Steven Hill compellingly argues in his excellent "Europe's Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age," Europe has become a dynamic, transformational force in the world and stands as a clear model of success on so many fronts that we must push reset in our assessment of Europe's course. Americans today should learn a bit about how Europe has quietly and incrementally added to its size and global weight and maintained an innovative approach to broad public challenges like renewable energy, capital punishment, social welfare, and even corporate dynamism."--Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, author of the political blog, "The Washington Note"
""Europe's Promise" is a provocative and illuminating book that should lead Americans to think hard about our own assumptions and priorities. By closely examining Europe's economic and political practices, Hill reveals a new Europe that has become the world's leader during this century challenged by global economic crisis, climate crisis, and new geopolitical tensions. In these times of hope and fear, read this captivating book to discover new and creative models for building a better future."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of "The Nation"
"Hill's book is an elegant and counterintuitive manifesto for a new politics of interdependence that could take the world through the turmoil of the economic and global warming crises."--Mark Leonard, Executive Director, European Council on Foreign Relations
"What can the United States learn from Europe? If you believe what's said in Washington, the answer is 'not much'. If you read Steven Hill's intelligent, broad-ranging, and deeply researched book, you'll find the correct answer is 'a great deal'--and now is the time to learn it."--Jacob S. Hacker, author of "The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Security and the Decline of the American Dream"

Book Synopsis

A quiet revolution has been occurring in post-World War II Europe. A world power has emerged across the Atlantic that is recrafting the rules for how a modern society should provide economic security, environmental sustainability, and global stability. In Europe's Promise, Steven Hill explains Europe's bold new vision. For a decade Hill traveled widely to understand this uniquely European way of life. He shatters myths and shows how Europe's leadership manifests in five major areas: economic strength, with Europe now the world's wealthiest trading bloc, nearly as large as the U.S. and China combined; the best health care and other workfare supports for families and individuals; widespread use of renewable energy technologies and conservation; the world's most advanced democracies; and regional networks of trade, foreign aid, and investment that link one-third of the world to the European Union. Europe's Promise masterfully conveys how Europe has taken the lead in this make-or-break century challenged by a worldwide economic crisis and global warming.

From the Back Cover

"Steven Hill ends the transatlantic debate over which economic and political system is superior: Europe wins. While America and China fight for oil and minerals, Europe already achieves more with less. Indeed, the path to the American Dream is the European Way."--Parag Khanna, author of The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order

"Like a reverse Alexis de Tocqueville, Steven Hill dauntlessly explores a society largely unknown to his compatriots back home. Sweeping away the ideological posturing, he shows us exactly how the modern European Way works and the promise it holds for an America which has slipped to become, in terms of social, economic and energy policy, the Old World."--Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker, author of Obamanos!: The Birth of a New Political Era

"Europe's Promise should startle, inform, and galvanize Americans in raising the ante in favor of a political economy where people matter first."--Ralph Nader

"As Steven Hill compellingly argues in his excellent Europe's Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age, Europe has become a dynamic, transformational force in the world and stands as a clear model of success on so many fronts that we must push reset in our assessment of Europe's course. Americans today should learn a bit about how Europe has quietly and incrementally added to its size and global weight and maintained an innovative approach to broad public challenges like renewable energy, capital punishment, social welfare, and even corporate dynamism."--Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, author of the political blog, The Washington Note

"Europe's Promise is a provocative and illuminating book that should lead Americans to think hard about our own assumptions and priorities. By closely examining Europe's economic and political practices, Hill reveals a new Europe that has become the world's leader during this century challenged by global economic crisis, climate crisis, and new geopolitical tensions. In these times of hope and fear, read this captivating book to discover new and creative models for building a better future."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation

"Hill's book is an elegant and counterintuitive manifesto for a new politics of interdependence that could take the world through the turmoil of the economic and global warming crises."--Mark Leonard, Executive Director, European Council on Foreign Relations

"What can the United States learn from Europe? If you believe what's said in Washington, the answer is 'not much'. If you read Steven Hill's intelligent, broad-ranging, and deeply researched book, you'll find the correct answer is 'a great deal'--and now is the time to learn it."--Jacob S. Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Security and the Decline of the American Dream

Review Quotes

"Europe's Promise" marshals an impressive army of facts and comparative statistics to show that the United States is behind Europe in nearly every socio-economic category that can be measured and that neither America's trickle-down, Wall Street-driven capitalism nor China's state capitalism hold the keys to the future."--Bernd Debusmann "Reuters News Agency" (2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"Timely and provocative. Europe's Promise explains why in most areas, it is Europe's constitutional forms, economic regulations, and social values, not those of the United States, that are the most popular models for new democracies. The oldest one should take note."--Andrew Moravcsik "Foreign Affairs" (1/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

What to make of this dazzling Opus? The analysis offers some fresh perspective on the European and American systems...The book fills gaps in information about Europe and at the same time act as a manifesto for a fundamentally different America.-- "Internationale Politik" (7/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"A comprehensive analysis of Europe aimed at engaging the American public in a dialogue about the transformative achievements of the old continent. A very-well written discussion, substantiated by a wealth of reference material and dotted with personal anecdotes."--A. E. Wohlers "Choice" (8/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"An engrossing book. . . . Hill has a gift for capturing cogent themes in a single image. . . . Steven Hill examines the evolving trajectory since World War II of Europe's 'fulcrum institutions' on which their societies pivot, and discovers rich contrast to the ruinous feuding of Republicans and Democrats here."--Anne Grant "Providence Journal" (2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"An important new book from Berkeley's worthy UC Press."--Bill Mann "Inside Bay Area / Oakland Tribune" (3/25/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"Breezily written and well-documented . . . To anyone wondering whether by 2099 the current era will be viewed as a second 'American Century, ' Hill's warnings are worth considering. If the competitive advantages he ably enumerates continue to evolve in Europe's favor, the claim to the century may well cross the Atlantic."--Cecilio Morales "America: The National Catholic Weekly" (5/17/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"Europe's promise is in many ways a provocative and exuberant book."--Teija Tiilikainen "Insight Turkey" (10/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"Hill is a lucid and engaging writer. He makes you sit up and think. He is surely right in saying that Europe's prosperous, peaceful and democratic social market economy looks attractive when contrasted with the unbalanced, excessively deregulated US model or with China's politically repressive capitalism."--Tony Barber "Financial Times" (2/7/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"There are vital lessons in Europe's Promise from which America could benefit. . . . Hill is able to explain how and why Europe works and therefore, may galvanize Americans to look in the mirror and make some changes."--Joseph David Rollwagen & Justin McCauley "Vienna Review Of Books" (11/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Steven Hill is Director of the Political Reform Program for the New America Foundation and author of 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy and other books on politics. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, TheNation, International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Prospect, and many other publications and websites.