Anti-Americanism

At the end of the 20th century, America is the lone superpower in part because the rest of the world has avoided the self-criticism and self-examination that are desperately required of liberal democracies. America has been running the race while the rest of the world has meandered around the track. Anti-Americanism wastes resources that could actually be used to compete with America; furthermore, such reasoned competition could make the world a better place. Revel laments Europes unwillingness to take political risks, and rely instead on the very safe, very proven method of attacking the Americans. The results are very harmful indeed.

Finally, Revel concludes that the end is not in sight. Whereas polls indicate that the average European citizen (an ironical term, as he points out) is just not that obsessed with bashing the US, political elites on the Right and Left ARE obsessed and will stay that way. Look for the 21st century to be another American one.

This book is well-written and foot-noted and clocks in at 176 pages. Very useful.

He reminds us that in the Twentieth Century, America saved Europe--and the planet--from two brutal dictatorships, both of which were generated in Europe: Nazism and Communionism. He also defends the broad outlines of the present "war on terror," and speaks the truth about the Islamic threat to democracy in America, Europe, and worldwide.

Revel did not completely convince me of the goodness of globalization, but, nevertheless, he refutes extemist and uninformed criticisms of it by pointing out some of its salutary effects for third world countries (not just America).

If you are tired of "the world according to the New York Times," then read and savor this book. Apparently, not all French people are unhinged when it comes to geopolitical matters. (And how can we really hate the country that both gave us Blaise Pascal and savors and supports jazz as it does?)

Douglas Groothuis

Throughout the book Revel makes it quite clear that when America does something wrong it should be criticized: he never flinches from doing so when he believes it is inappropriate; for (just one) example, he believes the death penalty is wrong, and criticizes the US for having it. Fair enough, the man is entitled to his opinion. The point that he goes on to make is that it is the American use of the death penalty that gets cries of derision from Europe and human rights groups, while countries that have wholesale executions, such as China, North Korea, Iran, and Saddams Iraq get nary a second glance from the Europeans. That is a perhaps minor point in the great scope of world events (though not to the people involved), but there are many more vivid and complex examples of Anti-American bias discussed that are too long to go into here. The point to be made is this: read the book with an open mind and you will gain a new perspective on European governments and elites, as well as the infiltration of socialism and Marxism into all facets of the European left (and academia and the media virtually universally.)

Criticism of this book in these reviews is fairly predictable: people who actually read the book generally give Revel his deserved high marks for analysis and accuracy, and the overwhelming majority of one star reviews are one liners with no insight or critique, rather just an obvious liberal political ax to grind. One reviewer, though, piqued my interest; when he called Revel a "French Uncle Tom" and a "bought-off Frog": I wondered where he got his information and exactly who bought Revel off and for what purpose. He certainly would have sold more books in France, his chief market, if he had been hostile to the US (read the book again). This reviewer also makes a statement about the "fortunate Halliburton stockholders" rebuilding Iraq. I am not so sure how fortunate Halliburton stockholders are inasmuch as the company lost $928 million last year and the stock under performed the SandP 500 last year by a substantial margin (although analysts now believe it is poised for a comeback, in the interest of full disclosure.) My point is this: in direct contrast to this reviewer and other leftists of his ilk, Revel deals in actual historical facts, not in propaganda strewn diatribes full of jingoistic fervor with no actual basis in the real world. That is why this book is so valuable: it is a real, honest, refreshing look at the actual situation in Europe from a knowledgeable insider, not a vitriolic piece of mindless propaganda.

This should be the next book you read.