Is there anything I should read to prepare for Davos?

There is no Davos reading list, but there are some books and articles that provide an interesting series of reflections on Davos itself, or on some of the themes that will arise at the Annual Meeting.

The editor of Harpers, Lewis Lapham, has been to Davos for the last few years. Following his first visit, he wrote The Agony of Mammon: The Imperial Global Economy Explains Itself to the Membership in Davos, Switzerland. This slim volume has a title that may be nearly as long as the book, but it accurately records the feelings of many first-time participants — particularly the non-business participants. Lapham, no fan of globalization, comes away an admirer of the spirit of Davos.

Filippo Grandi, who works at the UN High Commission for Refugees, came to Davos for the first time in 1999. His personal essay on the experience is, to my mind, one of the best statements of what Davos is about — or certainly what it should be about.

Finally, try to read Five Days in London, May 1940, by John Lukacs. It’s clearly not directly about Davos, but it is a healthy tonic in two ways. First, the account of how Churchill swung a reluctant war cabinet around to fighting on is one of the best accounts of what true leadership is (and Davos is, after all, a gathering of putative leaders). Second, Lukacs brought home to me how rare it is to see the consequences of events even a few months down the road (Churchill was virtually alone in his conviction about Hitler). The millennial Davos will witness many speakers talking about the century ahead. Let’s all have some humility about our ability to foretell our future.