Micklethwait, (Richard) John 1962–

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MICKLETHWAIT, (Richard) John 1962–

PERSONAL: Born August 11, 1962; son of Richard Miles and Jane Evelyn (Codrington) Micklethwait; married Fevronia Read, 1992; children: Richard Thomas, Guy William, Edward Hugh. Education: Magdalen College, Oxford, graduated.

ADDRESSES: Home—London, England. Office—c/o Economist, 25 St. James' St., London SW1A 1HG, England.

CAREER: Journalist. Economist, London, England, finance writer, 1987–89, media correspondent, 1989–90, Los Angeles correspondent, 1990–93, business editor, 1993–97, New York bureau chief, 1997–99, U.S. editor, 2000–.

WRITINGS:

(With Adrian Wooldridge) The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus, Times Books (New York, NY), 1996.

(With Adrian Wooldridge) A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, Crown Business (New York, NY), 2000.

Globalisation: The Economist, Economist (London, England), 2002.

(With Adrian Wooldridge) The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea, Modern Library (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Adrian Wooldridge) The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America, Penguin (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times, Spectator, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Manchester Guardian.

SIDELIGHTS: Speaker and journalist John Micklethwait has worked for the Economist magazine since 1987, when he joined the staff as a writer. He rose steadily, eventually gaining the position of New York bureau chief before becoming editor of the London-based magazine's U.S. edition. Micklethwait appears regularly on television and radio.

The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus, which Micklethwait coauthored with fellow Economist journalist Adrian Wooldridge, addresses the proliferation of experts who promise to teach their readers or students the secrets of successful management skills. The book examines the most popular management theorists, analyzing their advice and finding that, while some of it is useless, there is still a multi-million dollar business that hinges on management, and therefore some of the lessons must be worth learning. Andrew Stuttaford, in the National Review, called The Witch Doctors "a succinct guide. If something can be said in a couple of pages, that's all the authors use … this is a management book that the reader will actually be able to finish." Robert D. Gulbro, contributing to Business Horizons, remarked that "this book is must reading for business managers who desire guidance in helping them avoid the pitfalls of hiring just any consultant. It should also be read by students of management, because it helps clarify the study of management theories."

Micklethwait again teams with Wooldridge for A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, a volume that makes a case for the potential benefits of a truly global economy. Over the course of the book, they not only revisit traditional reasons to proliferate a global economy, but address standard critiques and shortcomings and illustrate how they might be overcome. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly opined that the book praises globalization to the exclusion of sufficient time to "address the extent of its destabilizing economic effects or the havoc it has wreaked on many countries," but overall remarked that the book constitutes "an estimable effort." However, Jagdish Bhagwati, in a Foreign Affairs review, commented that the authors "write gloriously. As journalists, they have learned the art of making a point vividly by buttressing it with an apt anecdote, a striking interview, or a telling quote. Yet the book's substance is what really makes it stand out." He added that "given such an overwhelming agenda, they cannot hope to paint on this immense canvas without incurring minor blemishes of detail and errors of judgment. But judged in its entirety … the book is a spectacular success." Economist contributor Hamish McRae took issue with the book's structure, stating that, "as befits the Internet age, the reader is whisked on a series of lightning swoops about the globe…. It is fun in its way, but a bit bewildering." Overall, however, McRae praised Micklethwait and Wooldridge, noting that "they welcome the benefits but they are also commendably sensitive to the threats globalization might pose. They make the really big point that it supports individual liberties: the freedom of people to make their own choices, rather than having them determined by national governments."

The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea traces the concept of forming a company from near its inception through the present day. The idea was to create an entity that could be treated in some respect as a human being, allowing governments access to major projects and investments without having the money on hand. In certain instances, companies became almost synonymous with the nations they represented, such as the British East India Company. In modern business dealings, companies such as IBM and Procter and Gamble are involved in aspects of life and culture that extend far beyond the products they sell. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called The Company "an entertaining and even charming excursion in business history, largely unburdened by formulas and numbers but full of debate-stirring data all the same." Michael Arndt, reviewing for Business Week, wrote that "if The Company has a shortcoming, it is that it is too short." He concluded that "the ground they do cover is worth exploring."

The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America examines the nature of conservatism in the United States, analyzing how it has become more popular through the decades and looking at the nation's steady right-ward trend. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly observed that "this epochal political transformation is rarely analyzed with the degree of dispassionate clarity that Micklethwait and Wooldridge bring to their penetrating analysis." Alexandra Starr, in a review for Business Week, noted that "what makes the volume all the more impressive is that Micklethwait and Wooldridge are addressing audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. In trying to explain to Europeans why Americans have skewed so far to the Right, they identify one of the more intriguing aspects of U.S. politics: Voters often craft their political identities based on their values, not their economic interests." Michael Kazin, writing for Mother Jones, called the volume "a vividly detailed study of why conservatives rule American politics," and "an immensely valuable book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Prospect, July, 2004, James P. Pinkerton, "God and Man in the GOP," review of The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America, pp. 34-36.

Booklist, October 15, 1996, David Rouse, review of The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus, p. 388; November 1, 1998, David Rouse, review of The Witch Doctors, p. 474; May 15, 2000, review of A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, p. 1707; February 15, 2003, Mary Whaley, review of The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea, p. 1024; June 1, 2004, Bryce Christensen, review of The Right Nation, p. 1676.

Business Horizons, September-October, 1997, Robert D. Gulbro, review of The Witch Doctors, pp. 73-74.

Business Week, March 24, 2003, Michael Arndt, "An Ode to 'The Money-Spinner,'" review of The Company, p. 22; June 7, 2004, Alexandra Starr, "America's Right Turn," p. 26.

Christian Century, December 14, 2004, Kenneth J. Heineman, review of The Right Nation, pp. 43-47.

Contemporary Review, April, 2004, review of The Company, p. 253.

Economist, November 16, 1996, Hamish McRae, review of The Witch Doctors, pp. S12-S13; July 15, 2000, Hamish McRae, "Economic Globalization: Good for Liberty," p. 4.

Entertainment Weekly, March 14, 2003, Aynda Wheaton, review of The Company, p. 70.

Forbes, August 7, 2000, Caspar W. Weinberger, review of A Future Perfect, p. 49.

Foreign Affairs, July-August, 2000, Jagdish Bhagwati, "Globalization in Your Face: A New Book Humanizes Global Capitalism," p. 134; September-October, 2004, Nicholas van de Walle and others, review of The Right Nation, p. 164.

Government Finance Review, August, 2000, Nick Greifer, review of A Future Perfect, p. 57.

Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1997, Eileen Shapiro, review of The Witch Doctors, pp. 142-146.

Insight on the News, June 26, 2000, Rex Roberts, "Going Global," p. 26.

Institutional Investor International Edition, May, 2000, Deepak Gopinath, "Back to the Future," p. 104.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2003, review of The Company, p. 43.

Library Journal, March 1, 2003, Dale Farris, review of The Company, pp. 100-101; June 1, 2004, William D. Pederson, review of The Right Nation, p. 158.

Management Today, July, 2000, Howard Davies, "Mish-Mash of Half Truths," review of A Future Perfect, p. 41.

Mother Jones, July-August, 2004, Michael Kazin," All the Right Moves," pp. 81-82.

National Review, April 7, 1997, Andrew Stuttaford, review of The Witch Doctors, pp. 50-51.

Naval War College Review, winter, 2002, Lawrence E. Modisett, "Is This the End of the Nation-State?," pp. 133-140.

New Statesman, September 27, 2004, Robert Reich, "The Right-Wing Revolution: Ordinary Americans Are Fighting the Wrong Class War," pp. 70-72.

Newsweek International, April 10, 2000, Michael Elliott, "Globalization Is Good for You," p. 4.

Publishers Weekly, October 21, 1996, review of The Witch Doctors, p. 67; April 24, 2000, review of A Future Perfect, p. 72; February 3, 2003, review of The Company, pp. 65-66; May 10, 2004, review of The Right Nation, pp. 50-51.

Reason, November, 2000, Brink Lindsey, "Trade Winds," review of A Future Perfect, p. 70; November, 2004, Brian Doherty, "Right-wingers Redux: Are We a Conservative Nation? Does It Matter?," pp. 62-66.

School Library Journal, June, 2003, review of A Future Perfect, p. SS55.

Training, September, 2000, Theodore Kinni, review of A Future Perfect, p. 143.

Washington Monthly, January-February, 1997, Tim Carvell, review of The Witch Doctors, pp. 48-50; June, 2004, Michael Lind, "Frontier Myth: The Spirit of the American Pioneer Did Not Inspire Modern-Day Conservatism," pp. 52-53.