Rating: 
Summary: Absolute codswallop? Time for a reality check
Review: ...an important point the author made in the book.If all cultures are equal, if everything is relative, if no culture can really be termed "superior" to another, why is it that every year, all over the world, millions of people vote with their feet for America and the American way of life? People immigrate here from every corner of the world, and it's virtually a one way traffic. How many Americans choose to emigrate to Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Thailand, or Poland? But people from other countries are so eager to come here that they will do it illegally if they cannot do it any other way. If America is so terrible, how did we become the richest, most prosperous nation on earth? I know many would say it's because we are oppressors, and we have exploited the rest of the world, both people and natural resources, until we are on top, but this doesn't wash. While we are no angels, to be sure, neither are we really comparable to history's REAL oppressors, such as the Nazis, or the communists (who not only killed more millions of people than the Nazis, but had a far, far worse record of raping and polluting the environment than any Western country). I have yet to hear a multiculturalist give me a convincing answer to this. Multiculturalists, like most modern leftists, live in an idealized universe; they have long since lost the habit of testing ideas against their actual results in the real world. If you look the facts in the face, it's very hard to disagree with most of what D'Souza says.
Rating: 
Summary: I am a liberal, so I hate this book
Review: In all honesty, I am a liberal, so I hate this book. After all, isn't that what determines whether these kind of books get 5 stars or one star? I would recommend you save your money and buy Micheal Moore's new book "Stupid White Men..". I know it's a little far fetched that anyone considering buying this book would go out and buy a book that is totally opposite of this one just based on my stupid recommendation. But I've seen it done in many other reviews, so what the heck?
Rating:
Summary: Great Country Indeed Dinesh, Krishnan!!
Review: I'd like to repeat the sentiments of the earlier immigrant reviewer, Krishnan Chittur. I am also an immigrant from India, with my MS in Petroleum Engineering. Although I worked for several years as a plant manager at an oil refinery near New Dehli and was making a relatively good income, I always had dreams of coming to the U.S.. My dream came true in 1994 when I landed a job with Enron in Houston TX. I felt like a child who had just been taken to the greatest toy store in the world. I bought a big modern American house with a game room and more space than I had ever seen in a house before, and a shiny new Honda Accord with power windows and a/c and even power seats! I drove my family to Disneyworld and the Grand Canyon in our Toyota Sienna with flip down seats and video system!! And I have a huge TV now with a dvd player, which I use mainly to watch Hindi dvds that I order from the internet on my 1.5Ghz, Pentium III with 40 Gig Hard Drive and cable modem. And I have all these great things, and I work much less than I ever did in India!! This is truly the greatest country in the world. Even though I was laid off from Enron 3 months ago, I was lucky enough to have sold my inflated stock in time to make a not-so-small fortune, so I am even happier now!! What is so great about this country indeed??!! And I agree with D'Souza that we should not be concerned about the social problems that a few people in this country are all whining about. If it hasn't happened directly to us, we should just be quiet and enjoy the riches of this great country and be happy!!
Rating:
Summary: Comment on 5/1/02 review
Review: What does the 5/1/02 review have to do with this book? You're suppose to read the book and review it here, not spout your personal political opinion of all things.
Rating:
Summary: America - the virtuous land
Review: Dinesh D'Souza is living proof that the immigrant, the new American, is who invigorates and nutures our Republic. Ever with his awe and amazement of this great land, he clinically depicts the downside of "being too free", and the dangers of our choosing evil over good. He is a gentle person, who in a disciplined thought provoking manner debunks the critics of the west, and demonstrates that America is not only unique in the world, but in history. We are indeed a moral, courageous , and virtuous nation, (warts and all). With the skill of a swordsman D'Souza dismembers the discourse of the mulitcultural left, and the Islamic right, who are now sowing the seeds, not of disenchantment, but of their demise, (literally and figuratively) as American values, honor, and ethics are shining the light of free will on those held in mental and physical captivity in most of the world. D'Souza is another visionary who viewed the "shining city on a hill", and he is forceful in panting that picture for us. Is freedom in body, mind, and spirit messy, D'Souza answers Yes, but it is the most noble of our endeavours, and our obligation to the world. With deference to Doctor Bennett and Judge Bork, we are neither damned by, or hostage to, the dark side of our free will.
Rating:
Summary: A great civics lesson
Review: I saw D'Souza on TV debating with a Native American on the issue of sports teams using Native American names and mascots. The Native American guest talked about how there were about 200 professional teams in America that used names like "redskins", "braves", "apaches", "indians". He also talked about how offensive it was to see countless overweight, ignornat fans in the crowds with their faces painted and wearing their poorly made head-dresses and waving hatchets around and generally mocking the entire race of natives at these games. But D'Souza countered that there was a team called the Minnesota Vikings, which proved that Native Americans were not being singled out and that in fact, this type of recognition was actually a form of reverence, not mockery. D'Souza's impeccable argument is a testament to his brilliant debating skills and is a great example of what makes this country great. I think that D'Souza is one of the truly great Americans. I am coaching my son's soccer league, and am considering renaming the team to something like "towelheads" or "currydippers" and having them wear turbans and sarongs and red dots on their foreheads, as a tribute to the great race of people from which D'Souza comes . Our ability to celebrate and accept the diverse peoples of this world, like D'Souza, is what makes this country great.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute codswallop.
Review: The very pronouncement that D'Souza is making - that America is the 'best country in the world' - wouldn't hold water EVEN IF he had lived in all the other countries on the planet for long enough to form an opinion of them. The notion of 'good', 'better' and 'best' is purely subjective, to begin with. I (and millions of others) wouldn't have a problem with it if we were just talking about some well-meaning patriotism. But as a nation we're so convinced that our system is superior to the rest, that we're busily imposing it all around the world. I'm not just talking about opening the first McDonalds in St Petersburg either. This is about the devaluation of foreign currencies, the homogenisation of global culture, the massacre of innocents, and generally making the strong, richer and the poor, weaker. And that's not even taking domestic policy into account. It's not wise, it's not a good long-term strategy. D'Souza's book only serves to continue to pull the wool over the eyes of the public at a time when we need to be trying to understand how we fit in to the larger global picture.
Rating:
Summary: Every American should read this book.
Review: And so should every critic and enemy of the United States. This country has no shortage of either critics or enemies. We have citizens at home who find fault with us, and obviously a lot of people abroad hate us. Dinesh D'Souza acknowledges their criticisms and accusations against us, then systematically destroys them all. He is in a wonderful position to evaluate the United States and to evaluate the validity of the criticisms. He came here in 1978 as an exchange student from India. He lived in comfortable surroundings back home and could have stayed there and lived a pretty good life. But he decided his opportunities here far outweighed what he could have had at home. In 1991 he became a citizen. Today he is 100%American--a very wise and well informed one. He understands this country, its institutions, people, strengths and weaknesses far better than most native born Americans. As Dinesh destroys the arguments of the critics and naysayers, he reveals as well as any author I have read what is great about this country. He covers a lot of ground, including the outstanding wisdom of our Founding Fathers in building a foundation for this country that has helped it thrive and prosper from their time to today. He examines the current charges of racism leveled by such luminaries as Jesse Jackson, particularly their argument that "We the people" owe black Americans trillions of dollars in reparations for the legacy of slavery. He examines those arguments and destroys them with facts that the Jesse Jacksons of this world conveniently ignore.
D'Souza takes a very in- depth look at the Islamic Fundamentalists who wish to destroy us. He explains why they hate us, examines their claims that they are morally superior to us, and shows why they are wrong on all counts. He makes the statement that the only thing that those Muslim fundamentalists do to make the news is to kill people. The only positive thing they contribute to the world right now is oil. And their oil will not always be needed as it is now. After that, then what are they going to do? Multiculturalism gets a lot of attention--the idea that all cultures are equal, except for Western civilization which allegedly has committed monstrous wrongs against the rest of the world. D'Souza shoots down their aguments, too. D'Souza acknowledges that we are not a perfect country. We have a lot of faults and a lot of immoral and amoral people. That is inevitable in a country with the freedom that we have. Free people can choose to abuse their freedom, and many do. But we also have far more people who live virtuous and constructive lives--and they do so voluntarily, not because they are forced to by the deadly form of coercion that the Taliban was so good at. Coerced "virtue", he points out, is no virtue at all. D'Souza doesn't think very many free people would be willing to give up their freedom because some people abuse it. In every theocratically controlled Muslim state, the leaders refuse to risk allowing their people the freedom to be bad. Better to enforce "virtue" at the point of a sword than to give people any freedom of choice in their lives. "What's So Great About America" makes you proud-not arrogant-just proud to be lucky enough to be an American, whether born here or naturalized. Where else in the world can people come from all over the world, from every ethnic group imaginable, and be an American (or what ever)? Dinesh D'Souza says that an American can not go to India and become and Indian, but an Indian can go to America and become an American. That's what he did, and America is far better off because of it. Read this book. Tell your friends about it. "What's So Great About America" should be at the top of the best seller lists.
Rating:
Summary: Our Collective Response
Review: For college students such as myself, D'Souza's book serves as a front line of defense against relentless attacks, by the institutionalized left in academia, against America and American culture as a positive force in the world. I am not entirely unbiased, however. I was lucky enough to assist in research for the book, and the experience was quite rewarding. What is unique about this book, though, is that it is more than just blind patriotism. D'Souza gives some of the best expositions of the critiques of America before answering them. Moreover, he meets today's most prominent critique, the Muslim critique, on its own assumptions, or better put, in the context of its own worldview. This book is especially relevent for all Americans, because the issues he addresses are not only those issues that come from the left, but also from some on the right. In very direct terms, D'Souza speaks to conservatives concerned about the moral state of America, Asian cultures that seek "modernization without westernization," multiculturalists, Muslim fundamentalists, and the current leadership of the Civil Rights movement. Regardless of political ideology, this book will make its readers think. It is humorous, provocative, and one that the reader will return to more than once for its many insights.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read ... from therightreport.com
Review: Dinesh D'Souza's latest release, What's So Great About America, is a masterpiece that couldn't have come at a better time. D'Souza explains in detail something that you are not likely to hear while watching the nightly news or perhaps even chatting casually with your child's teacher -- that the United States of America is the best country on earth in which to live. D'Souza responds to critics from the Left (Jesse Jackson) and the Right (Pat Buchanan) who denounce America and her strengths, whether by disspelling the validity of reparations for slavery or the myth that the West is "dying". He explains that America's past, whether good or bad, is etched in history and cannot be changed; and whether we like it or not, we cannot wallow in the past must but remain focused on the future to continue the traditions the have made the U.S. freer and more welcoming than any other country in the world. What's So Great About America will make you proud to be an American, especially in the wake of the horrific terrorist assaults of 9-11. But most of all, this book will provide much needed insight for anyone interested in taking on the all-too-prevalent "America haters", who only have the opportunities to take their freedoms for granted by virtue of the fact that they reside in the one country they are all too willing to bemoan. In reality, it is unfortunate that Dinesh D'Souza had to write a book with this title. America's citizens shouldn't need to be reminded how fortunate they are to live in this country. If you love America, but this book for yourself. If you know someone who might need to be reminded of America's greatness, buy TWO for him!
|
