Starting Over: Why the Last Decade Was So Damn Rotten and Why the Next One Will Surely Be Better

"This is a brilliant combination of analysis and prescription. Andy Serwer describes the disruptions of the past decade, why they happened, and how we can bounce back. The result is forwardlooking history at its most valuable."
-Walter Isaacson
Author of Einstein and American Sketches "Andy Serwer's "Starting Over" is an important first draft of history that gives readers badly needed perspective on a tragic confluence of events that savaged our economy, stretched our military and weakened America's standing in the world."
-Joe Scarborough
Host of MSNBC's Morning Joe and author of The Last Best Hope "Business leaders must understand how the world has changed in the last decade and what lies ahead in the next. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to develop as new perspective."
-Ram Charan
Author and advisor to world's Global 500 executives Bookended by 9/11 at the beginning and an epic fi nancial meltdown at the end, the fi rst decade of this century will surely go down as one of the most diffi cult in American history. We were plagued by a series of catastrophes and major missteps, from the convoluted presidential election in 2000, to the invasion of Iraq, to the devastation of Katrina as well as all manner of fi nancial shenanigans such as Enron, the tragedy of GM and Bernie Madoff .

It wasn't just coincidence that this carnage all occurred over the past ten years though. Rather much of it was brought about by years of neglect and deferral of responsibility. In this book, Fortune Magazine Editor Andy Serwer explains how we fell into this national hole and more importantly, how we can and will pull ourselves out of it as we head into what could well be another most promising decade for America. Critical to this rebound is a learning of the lessons of the recent past such as accepting responsibility, punishing fi nancial alchemy and excess, and refocusing on our core strengths like innovation and a political system which is a beacon to the rest of the world. Now is the time for Starting Over.