At Home In The Hoosier Hills Agriculture, Politics, And Religion In Southern Indiana, 1810-1870 Book

“Tribes” is book that describes how specific ethnic networks have been able to find success
in the modern age. With this book, Joel Kotlin outlines how the Jews, British, Japanese,
Chinese and Indians, have all been able to leverage their societies to find prosperity.

The author also makes a very reasoned attempt to predict new tribes that will be successful,
Including the Koreans, Armenians, Palestinians, and Mormons.

Having lived abroad for over 20 years from my native Canada, I’ve often looked for role
models who have found success beyond their home bases. This has inevitably
brought me into contact with Europeans (British, some French and Germans), North
Americans and Asia-Pacific (Australian, Chinese, Indian and Japanese) and
mostly they coincided with the specific tribes covered in Kotlin’s book.

I also found it interesting that the book was also a product of the period in which it was
written in 1992. That was a time when Japan had just peaked, and the world was enthralled with how they rebuilt itself after the World War II. It was also before China had risen to the position as the second largest economy and beyond.

If I could suggest one change to the book it would be to highlight the characteristics that
help make a Tribe successful today. My list would be:


1. Cohesive culture.
2. Sense of exceptionalism
3. Commercially driven
4. Ambitious
5. Flexible and willing to travel
6. Self sufficient
7. Skilled at applying new technology
8. Able to work with foreigners
9. Disciplined
10. Believers in education

Overall a very good read and one that has stood the test of time!