New York Times bestselling author of The Post-American World and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS argues for a renewed commitment to the world’s most valuable educational traditions in this fascinating audiobook.

The liberal arts educational system is under attack. Governors in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina have announced that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts. Majors like English and History–which were once very popular and highly respected–are in steep decline and President Obama has recently advised students to keep in mind that technical training could be more valuable than a degree in art history, when deciding on an educational path.

In this timely and urgently needed audiobook Fareed Zakaria explains that this turn away from the liberal arts is a mistake. A liberal education provides the foundation for finding your voice, writing, speaking your mind, and ultimately, learning–all immensely valuable skills no matter your profession. Technology and globalization are making these skills even more valuable and necessary as routine mechanical and even computing tasks can be done by machines. More than just a path to a career, Zakaria argues that a liberal education is an exercise in freedom and above all, it feeds the most basic urge of the human spirit–to know.

COVID-19 is speeding up history, but how? What is the shape of the world to come?

Lenin once said, “There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen.” This is one of those times when history has sped up. CNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria helps listeners to understand the nature of a post-pandemic world: the political, social, technological, and economic impacts that may take years to unfold.

In the form of ten straightforward “lessons,” covering topics from globalization and threat-preparedness to inequality and technological advancement, Zakaria creates a structure for listeners to begin thinking beyond the immediate impacts of COVID-19. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World speaks to past, present, and future, and, while urgent and timely, is sure to become an enduring staple.

More democracy means more freedom. Or does it?

American democracy is, in many people’s minds, the model for the rest of the world. Fareed Zakaria points out that the American form of democracy is one of the least democratic in use today. Members of the Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve, institutions that fundamentally shape our lives, are appointed, not elected. The Bill of Rights enumerates a set of privileges to which citizens are entitled, no matter what the majority says. By restricting our democracy, we enhance our freedom.

Abroad, the spread of democracy has not produced a corresponding growth of liberty. We are seeing in many parts of the world, a strange creature–the elected autocrat. Zakaria calls for a restoration of the balance between liberty and democracy and shows how liberal democracy has to be made effective and relevant for our times.

A modern classic that uses historical analysis to shed light on the present, The Future of Freedom enjoyed extended stays on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller lists and has been translated into eighteen languages.

A Prophetic Assessment of America’s Changing Place in an Increasingly Global Age

For Fareed Zakaria, the great story of our times is not the decline of America but rather the rise of everyone else — the growth of countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and many, many more. This economic growth is generating a new global landscape where power is shifting and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places. It’s also producing political confidence and national pride. As these trends continue, the push of globalization will increasingly be joined by the pull of nationalism — a tension that is likely to define the next decades.

With his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination, Zakaria draws on lessons from the two great power shifts of the past five hundred years — the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States — to tell us what we can expect from the third shift, the “rise of the rest.” Washington must begin a serious transformation of global strategy and seek to share power, create coalitions, build legitimacy, and define the global agenda. None of this will be easy for the greatest power the world has ever known — the only power that for so long has really mattered. But all that is changing now. The future we face is the post-American world.