Published in 2016
448 pages
From her website bio: I am the Anu Partanen who has been a journalist based in New York City for more than a decade. I am the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything, published by HarperCollins. The book debunks some of the most common myths about Nordic societies and discusses what the United States might be able to borrow from aspects of Nordic success in the twenty-first century, in order to help restore the American dream. In recent years I have also written for The New York Times and The Atlantic. In 2009 I worked at Fortune Magazine as a visiting reporter through the Innovation Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University.
I am a U.S. citizen, but I am originally from Finland, and I write all sorts of articles for all sorts of magazines and newspapers in both Finnish and English. I’ve covered education, politics, technology, culture, and the arts, and have written for Finnish magazines about everything from the latest developments in neuroscience to the effects of Hurricane Sandy to domestic abuse. I’ve interviewed Andre Agassi, Jonathan Franzen, James Ellroy, Zadie Smith, and numerous Hollywood celebrities (I admit I particularly loved Willem Dafoe).
I also appear frequently on TV and radio, including appearances on CNN, CNBC, Public Radio International, and various local outlets. I’ve been a regular on-air commentator for the BBC World Service, and currently I appear on live television programs of the Finnish National Broadcasting Company (YLE), including the current-affairs debate show Jälkiviisaat.
For many years I worked as a journalist in Helsinki. My past responsibilities there include working as a staff writer for Helsingin Sanomat, one of the largest daily subscription newspapers in the Nordic region (I held posts at the national news section, the Sunday pages, and the monthly magazine); serving as the managing editor of a monthly general-interest magazine called Image; discussing news trends and current affairs on a live television program called Pressiklubi (Press Club); and teaching magazine writing at Tampere University in Tampere, Finland. I have also written regular columns published in the aforementioned Helsingin Sanomat and Image, in Metro newspaper (Finnish edition), and in the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti. More recently, I have worked as a science communicator at the University of Helsinki, and currently I am a senior adviser at Nordic West Office, a Helsinki-based consultancy. I have a master’s degree in social sciences and I have studied for a year both in France and Australia. I am married to the American writer Trevor Corson. If I’m the Anu Partanen you are looking for, please make yourself at home.
What is this book about?
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.
