Sunday, January 15, 2006

Sunday Morning Reading

I think readers of this blog will find Bruce Bawer's book review in the autumn Hudson Review very interesting for his discussion of European anti-Americanism. He looks at the caricatures of America common in Europe and discusses their sources in the European elite and the government controlled European media. He also contrasts the variety of thought and opinion in the US with the narrow range of ideas to be found in Europe. Among the books he discusses are the following:

THE EAGLE’S SHADOW: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World, by Mark Hertsgaard. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23.00; Picador, $14.00.

A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE: Why America Should Join the World, by Will Hutton. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. $27.95. (Original U.K. title: The World We’re In.)

ROGUE NATION: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions, by Clyde Prestowitz. Basic Books. $26.00.

BEING AMERICA: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World, by Jedediah Purdy. Alfred A. Knopf. $24.00.

AMERICA EMBATTLED: September 11, Anti-Americanism and the Global Order, by Richard Crockatt. Routledge. $90.00.

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT AMERICA?, by Dinesh D’Souza. Penguin. $15.00p.

OF PARADISE AND POWER: America and Europe in the New World Order, by Robert Kagan. Alfred A. Knopf. $18.00.

ANTI-AMERICANISM, by Jean-François Revel. Trans. by Diarmid Cammell. Encounter. $25.95.

ICH BIN EIN AMERIKANER, by Herman Willis. Schibsted. 298kr. (Yes, the title is in German, but the book is in Norwegian.)

FRYKTEN FOR AMERIKA: En europeisk historie, by Stian Bromark and Dag Herbjørnsrud. Tiden. 329kr.

3 comments:

ex-democrat said...

thanks for the link, chuck. I find the views described in Bawer's excellent analysis sprinkled throughout the incoherent positions taken by my european friends and acquaintences.
and as a european-american myself, i too can see behind the curtain.

flenser said...

An excellent read, chuck, Thanks.

flenser said...

I have not read any the books listed, but I can highly recommend Why The Rest Hates The West.

Just ignore the very lame title.