To begin with, Lexus and the Olive Tree is not only the title of a great book, but it is a metaphor for the book. The Lexus in the title represents how everyone in the globalized world wants the premium product. Just to have the latest and greatest product. Once someone has that in their train, someone else wants better, it becomes a competition without people even realizing it. The olive tree, on the other hand, is more appreciated in small towns. They stay in their own country and stay alone. They don't buy products from other countries because they are afraid of being looked down upon. Small countries usually have a dictator, and that dictator will “brainwash” his people. It makes them think smaller and doesn't let them know that there is a better way to live out there. Small countries fight among themselves for territory. Friedman uses these elements to describe globalization because they describe communication, and letting all that communication cross borders to inform other countries about what is happening in the world. In Lexus and Olivier, Friedman believes that the world is only ten years old. He explains: “When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, we understood it ten years later. The world was born when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989." From what I understand, he tells us that after the Berlin Wall fell, democracy in the world changed. The growth of free markets has enabled more and more people to pursue their ambitions and achieve them. This is what leads to globalization, that is, what is defined as the process by which social institutions are adopted on a global scale. We experienced a similar era of globalization in the mid-1800s and 1920s, before World War I. It is very similar to the one we live in today. What is new in today's globalization is the degree and intensity with which the world is linked into a single market and a single globalized village. What is also new in the globalized world is the number of people and countries able to participate in today's globalized economy and information networks. Technology has broken down since the last era of globalization and politically it has changed. Friedman tells us that globalization has replaced the Cold War.