What's So Great About America

Rating:
Summary: Not quite finished
Review: I admit, I'm only 3/4 of the way through the book. But, I've highly enjoyed every page thus far. D'Souza's writing is quite enjoyable- a very fresh and engaging look upon both the best and worst in the America I know today. If there is a person who is perfect, please let me meet him. If there is another government in the world that is perfect, please take me there. D'Souza stresses that America does have problems still, but overall it is a great country. I strongly believe in this! I thank God every day that I was born in this country and given the opportunity to make my own destiny. From many other reviewers, I see this is not the case. That, I belive, is a sad state. If you are not willing to be part of the solution in upholding the values and displaying pride in America, then you are part of the problem and you would probably be much happier in another country.

Rating:
Summary: Greater Truth never spoken
Review: The liberals/communists (the two words can be used interchangeably) believe the following 4 falsehoods :

1) America is an inperialist monster that has got rich only by exploiting other countries. The wealth created by software development in the last 25 years somehow exploits the resources of the Congo jungle.
2) Blacks in the US are still poor because they are oppressed from slavery that ended 140 years ago. Nothing is actually their fault. Black immigrants from Jamaica, Dominica, etc who do better than African Americans are selectively not targeted for racism by whites.
3) America forces its culture onto other nations. People are FORCED by America to drink Coke and watch Baywatch, destroying their culture. They would rather not experience these things
4) The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The fact than mroe than half of the Forbes 400 richest Americans started poor is a mere coincidence.

From reading the reviews. It is quite apparent that the one-star liberals are only spouting points that D'Souza has already wittily defeated with well-reasoned arguments. Not a single thing in any one-star review actually points to a flaw in his reasoning. Note that the 5-star reviews are well-written by educated people.

D'Souza is a great American, even though he is an immigrant. Which country could possibly inspire an immigrant to become so loyal to it? In fact, which nation would allow people such as the liberal/communists to speak out against the government. In Iran or China, anyone who denounces the state would be summarily executed.

In short, this is a great book, that anyone who has ever actually been to another country, anyone who works hard, anyone who believes in meritocracy, will find to be excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Why do so many one-star reviewers not sign their names?
Review: One star reviewers are liberal. They have pre-conceived notions about this country and they won't risk facing the fact that they are wrong. As Clinton Democrats have shown clearly, they are afraid of the truth. The anonymous reviewers are either ashamed or afraid to sign their names. So they put down this book without reading it. It is obvious that the most strongly critical reviewers haven't read the book; yet they don't mind calling conservative reviewers names and insulting their (our) intelligence. How intelligent are the liberal put-down-America (and America's supporters) people? They are full of unworkable theories. They are short on common sense and apparently can't see the forest for the trees. It is true, just as D'Souza said, that this is an imperfect country. We have a lot of faults and have made many mistakes in our history. But he shows with irrefutable facts and logic why we are still a great country, inspite of our faults and weaknesses. The one-star reviewers show they haven't read the book because the can state no case to refute D'Souza's logic, arguments and conclusions. Those who think this country is so bad and that D'Souza is so wrong need to consider moving to another country for a while. Maybe a new perspective will wizen them up a little. I am sorry I felt compelled to write this one, but I am tired of seeing D'Souza and those of us who like his book being bashed by people who tend not to have any idea what they are talking about. Oh, wouldn't it make them mad if I didn't sign my name?

Rating:
Summary: Interesting after 9/11
Review: As an immigrant to this country, D'Souza brings tells of what makes America the place it is. He deals with why people come here in large numbers. He presents a conservative view of this country wihtout denying america's problems. For example, he explains how America has had problems with race and that racism still exists but the dynamics of this country are moving foreward giving minorities greater oppurtunities than they've had in the past. He further goes into how the West has preveiled through time despite Asian ahd Middle Eastern civilizations being ahead of Europe 500 years ago. Also D'Souza deals with his own experiences immigranting to this country and what makes america so unique.

Rating:
Summary: Another insightful book
Review: I would give it four stars only when compared to D'Souza's last book. When I read Virtue of Prosperity, it was a fascinating journey through the American economic/political system, studying the downfalls and upfalls of our own and how it is ultimately the lesser of all evil systems and grants better breadcrumbs to the bottomfeeders than other systems do to the topfeeders.

In this book, D'Souza takes on a much wider topic of the moral question of American social/political/economic institutions and way of life. He goes far less in depth than in his earlier book, but still presents each chapter as an analysis from a different perspective, granting points to America's detractors along the way, only strengthening his own argument's credibility.

Unfortunately, each successive D'Souza book seems to be getting shorter... Is this a trend that is happening in the publishing industry or am I imagining it?

Rating:
Summary: America's glories celebrated, without denying our problems
Review: What's so great about America?

A lot, it turns out. D'Souza grew up in India, and so he knows more than I do about other ways of life, and he explains, carefully, why ours is better.

Yes, we had an interest in Kuwaiti oil. So did Iraq. America, like all other nations, acts in its own interests. The difference is that we gave the land back to its owners. What other conqueror in all the world has done that? We act in our own interests in defensible ways.

He reports on an anthropologist who tried to tell the primitive people he was studying that their lifestyle was equal to the American one, but they kept saying "We want your jeans! We want your camera!" They knew which lifestyle they preferred.

He discusses the fact that Americans can choose who to date or marry, while in many parts of the world, that's controlled by parents.

D'Souza claims that he has become an American, and discusses how unique that is. If he lived in Germany, even if he became a citizen, he would not be considered a "German".

He points out that accusing a native-born German or Indian of being "un-German" or "anti-Indian" means nothing in those countries, but "un-American" and "anti-American" does have meaning here -- because being American means more than where you were born. And this, he claims, is unique.

He's not an ideologue - he talks about the problems, and why they exist. And still concludes that our country stands higher than most.

The first chapter is essential. It's about why our Islamic enemies hate us. It's not (just) because we have come to different conclusions. It's in part because we believe people should be able come to their own conclusions.

Go read the reviews of people who loved this book, and the some reviews of people who hated it. Then ask yourself - which ones actually read it?

Then go read the book, and come to your own conclusions. You can, you know. And that's what's so great about America.

Rating:
Summary: What's Wrong With You Readers?
Review: I am constantly surprised at the amount of readers who take D'Souza's ignorant rightist rantings as facts. The man is simply the most successful con artist I've read--passing himself off as a scholar and sociologist for years while simply lacking in key areas: respect for cultural space, logical arguments, and quite simply knowledge of his subject matter.

D'Souza is by far the most disrespectful and ignorant of lime-light scholars today. Readers, don't bother reading this or any of D'Souza's work. His books as well as his breath are but a waste of space.

Rating:
Summary: Know your enemy, know thyself...
Review: D'Souza is a master of rhetoric and this book is no exception. I am a voracious reader who can always find some nuggets in whatever I am reading. I appreciated D'Souza's insights into Islam and the current wave of Islamic fundamentalism. I laughed out loud at many of the analogies he made, including relativism and Torquemada. I concurred with his belief that America is a great country.

My differences lie in the fact that he sees things so completely in black or white. He spits out the term multiculturalism so many times that he might as well have used the term "bleeding heart liberal" instead. He demonizes multiculturalists on pg 170 by saying that "multiculturalists hold that there are no universal standards by which cultures can be judged better or worse." He contradicts this on page 171 by himself stating "I am not suggesting that there is any absolute standard by which one can proclaim cultures superior or inferior." He falls back on relativism when it serves his arguments, but denounces it when it weakens his position. I am not surprised that he does this, to some extent all writers do this, liberal, conservative or in-between.

If you are looking for interesting arguments that cut a broad swath across today's discourse, this book will be a quick read. If you are hoping for greater depth on the issues facing America as a nation, this isn't the book.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone from the third world thinks this is a great country
Review: which is why they have all moved here. Compared to India it is great. I think the point that he is missing is that native born Americans do not recognize this country as being the same one that we grew up in. This country was Great; but has been steadily declining in every area since 1965. It was great because our ancestors died fighting to make it that way. It has morphed into a capitalistic, violent, immoral society with native born Americans forced into second class citizenship.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: If you ever wondered what's so great about the USA, read this short but meaningful book; it won't disappoint you.
In a clear and precise way, d'Souza reminds us why our culture--unbound by a religious State--should be a model for the world of democracy. He particularly emphasizes why "multi-culturalism" is utter nonsense and what separates us from the tyranny of mindless reglious fanatics. My only complaint is that the book is far too short.