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Summary
Summary
A Finnish journalist, now a naturalized American citizen, asks Americans to draw on elements of the Nordic way of life to nurture a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society for themselves and their children
Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life--from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare--was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first, she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension. To understand why life is so different in the U.S. and Finland, Partanen began to look closely at both.
In The Nordic Theory of Everything, Partanen compares and contrasts life in the United States with life in the Nordic region, focusing on four key relationships--parents and children, men and women, employees and employers, and government and citizens. She debunks criticism that Nordic countries are socialist "nanny states," revealing instead that it is we Americans who are far more enmeshed in unhealthy dependencies than we realize. As Partanen explains step by step, the Nordic approach allows citizens to enjoy more individual freedom and independence than we do.
Partanen wants to open Americans' eyes to how much better things can be--to show her beloved new country what it can learn from her homeland to reinvigorate and fulfill the promise of the American dream--to provide the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, economically secure, upwardly mobile life for everyone. Offering insights, advice, and solutions, The Nordic Theory of Everything makes a convincing argument that we can rebuild our society, rekindle our optimism, and restore true freedom to our relationships and lives.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this outsider's examination of the American way of life, Finnish-born journalist Partanen compares the United States to the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Partanen draws from her first-hand experiences as a recent transplant to America, recounting her culture shock and struggle to adapt. She skillfully deconstructs healthcare, the educational system, the family unit, and governmental participation in everyday life, among other things, to point out how American society is flawed and where it can learn from the Nordic countries, especially what she calls "the Nordic theory of love": "that authentic love and friendship are possible only between individuals who are independent and equal." As she observes, this belief resembles the classical American ideals of individualism and self-reliance, and for this reason, Americans should find it appealing. Partanen concludes by stating that the U.S., by drawing on the example of Nordic societies, "could possibly return itself to its former glory as the best country in the world." It's a passionate and intelligent argument, though perhaps an overly idealized attempt to fix complicated issues, and more valuable as a conversation starter than a utopian blueprint. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon, Inkwell Management. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A Finnish journalist offers a surprising theory of why Americans are neither currently upwardly mobile nor free. Partanen, who came to New York in 2008, married an American writer/teacher, and lives in Brooklyn, enlists her Nordic sensibility to delineate what has gone wrong with the so-called American dream. In recent years, Finland has been featured as the poster country for the most livable, best educated (especially in early education and math), and even happiest society (alongside neighbors Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and even Iceland). In her careful, evenhanded series of thoughtful essays, Partanen, who just became an American citizen, parses the recipe for Nordic success that even the self-congratulatory "exceptional" American may want to ponder and adapt. Having arrived in the U.S. full of excitement to embrace American "optimism, gumption, ingenuity, and knack for magically transforming challenging circumstances into profitable advantage," she found herself mystified and frustrated by the hindrances of livinge.g., getting credit cards or cable TV and understanding the hidden fees; buying affordable health insurance, thus forcing her to depend on her new husband's plan, which in turn forced him to find a suitable full-time job; the bewildering, utterly inequitable tax code; paying for higher education and, eventually, day care for the children they wanted. In short, Partanen was appalled by how the anxiety for affording the basics of life rendered Americans completely dependent on spouses, family, employers, and government, unable to restore themselves on vacations they feared to take (lest they lose their jobs) and so chronically insecure about their children's chances of having a better life than they did (which has resulted in the "helicopter parent" phenomenon). Step by step, the author sifts through the Nordic system of universal health care, early education, and equitable taxes, a system that frees citizens to be autonomous and creative without stressa "well-being state" rather than a "welfare state." An earnest, well-written work worth heeding, especially in our current toxic political climate. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After marrying an American and moving to New York, Finnish-born journalist Partanen was shocked by how much harder it is to get by in the land of opportunity than in her homeland. Comparing American and Finnish versions of education, health care, and various social structures, Partanen coaxes Americans to rethink the pejorative description of socialist programs as welfare states. Government support, she argues, does not create dependency, but rather independence and freedom, enabling individuals to flourish. The Finns enjoy months of paid maternity leave for both parents, free health care, free education, and an average of five weeks of paid vacation. Finland also consistently scores high on rankings of education, upward mobility, opportunity, and quality of life, so, clearly, she's on to something. Partanen's pride in her homeland and genuine concern for the struggles of middle-class Americans infuse her book with candor and charm, and her perceptions about American struggles feel spot-on. Partanen's examination will appeal to readers interested in education, health-care reform, and other urgent social issues.--Grant, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
EVERY EXPATRIATE HAS Stories about the moments he or she feels most foreign. When I first arrived in America I could not understand the concept of a co-payment. "I have health insurance," I insisted, several times, to a receptionist who nonetheless expected me to fork over a 20. I had never in my life paid cash at a doctor's office. In Canada, where I'm from, you show a card, and that's the end of it. I thought private insurance would be like that, at least procedurally. A decade later, I'm not sure about the function of a co-payment, other than as a reminder that when it comes to health care, you will be nickel-and-dimed until you draw your last breath. Surprises like these pile up over time when you live in a country that isn't your own. The Finnish journalist Anu Partanen clearly had a few stories to tell. In her new book, "The Nordic Theory of Everything," her pose is one of constant surprise. She is shocked by the health care system. She is perplexed by Americans who classify their parents as their "best friends." She is astonished by the marriage debate. She is flabbergasted by how much the allocation of parental responsibility still goes to the mother. Each of these jolts, Partanen tells you over the course of the book, only made her more convinced that Finland had gotten things right. She turns her experiences, and those of her friends, into an exploration of the different policy choices each country has made. She points out that Finns get 10 months of parental leave split between the mother and father, subsidized day care and subsidized health care. She presents the statistics showcasing the great results of such state support: According to a 2013 Unicef study, Finland's child poverty rate is less than 5 percent, compared with 25 percent for American children. Like those writers from a few years back who thought the French held the secrets to weight loss and raising children, Partanen believes Nordic culture holds the key to good governance. She also thinks that key could be passed along to Americans suffering from the depredations of capitalism. Underpinning all these great social policies, Partanen explains, is a "Nordic theory of love." (She derives this concept from a couple of scholars who proposed a more geographically delimited "Swedish theory of love.") "The core idea," Partanen writes, "is that authentic love and friendship are possible only between individuals who are independent and equal." She acknowledges that Americans like the sound of independence too, but in their fixation on individualism they have created a society that paradoxically makes them even more dependent on one another: Without strong state support for education, universal health care and other benefits, Americans must rely on their partners and their employers to take care of them, in sickness and in health. In Finland and other Nordic countries, Partanen argues, that kind of dependence would be intolerable. While she isn't remotely rude about it, Partanen does not respect the usual etiquette that attaches to being a foreigner in the United States. She is not saving her frustrations for cocktail party conversations. She is not writing in a state of gratitude. She even tells us, early on, that she didn't really choose to live in the United States; it chose her, by way of her husband, a writer she met at a conference. While her friends and family did have a vaguely glamorous fantasy of living in New York, fed by Finnish consumption of "Sex and the City," becoming an American resident wasn't something Partanen had planned for herself. Perhaps it goes without saying that this is not the story America usually tells itself about immigrants. People like Partanen are supposed to drop to their knees and kiss the ground. A green card, once secured, is liberation from a lesser life. America may have its problems, but it's still a boon to live here. The End. Partanen, obviously, found something else, a land where even quite privileged professionals are frazzled and stressed out over things her Finnish friends barely think about. She is a patient person, and often pauses in the book to note she appreciates the denizens of her new home. "In many ways I love the positive thinking one finds in America," she writes. BUT THERE IS no avoiding that the state of America - at least when viewed through the eyes of someone who comes from a functioning social democracy - is lamentable, and Partanen is good at blending the individual stories of her friends into the cold, hard facts of national statistics. Nevertheless, after a while, even a Canadian like me starts to feel frustrated when Partanen lists all the benefits she derived from her Finnish taxes: "Smoothly functioning and comprehensive health insurance, a full year of partially paid disability leave, nearly a full year of paid parental leave for each child and a smaller monthly benefit for an additional two years (should I or the father of my child choose to stay at home longer with our child), affordable high-quality day care, one of the world's best K-12 education systems, free college and free graduate school." This feels like something of a boast-or perhaps outright bragging. (Even Canadians don't have it that good.) Partanen has much to say about what the Nordic countries have to offer, but remarkably little to say about how Americans can achieve this kind of glory for themselves. She disputes most of the standard excuses - about the ethnic homogeneity and small population of Nordic countries, for example - but other than expressing a touching faith in American energy and self-motivation, she can't explain how and when this country could get there. The politics of it all is left up to chance. This exposes the problem with this sort of outsider's book. Partanen is a careful, judicious writer and she makes a careful, judicious case. But I doubt any American not already sympathetic to her argument will be persuaded by "The Nordic Theory of Everything." It's useful to know what the outsider knows: There are other ways of organizing humanity. If only we could teach everyone that. This feels like something of a boast. Even Canadians don't have it that good. MICHELLE DEAN'S book "Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion" will be published next year
Library Journal Review
Finnish journalist Partanen moved to the United States in 2008. Shell-shocked by cultural and public policy differences between her homeland and adopted country, she was spurred to write this exploration of Nordic culture as superior to American cultural norms. Using a combination of personal experience, interviews, and statistics, Partanen puts forth a compelling case that many of the qualities of Nordic society would be a welcome change for America. The author primarily focuses on the prism of public policy as it relates to the family unit. This highly readable and entertaining work is timely as the conversation about inequality and the role of social services in this country has never been more relevant. However, it is flawed when considering the tradeoffs that might be involved in adopting these attitudes and policies, and oftentimes dismissive of cultural history that might make such alterations challenging to American cultural norms. VERDICT While the approach may make it a hard sell to those not already converted to the policy prescriptions of Nordic countries, this accessible work should find an audience among readers of popular social science.-Ben Neal, Blackwater Regional Lib., VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.