What's So Great About America

Rating:
Summary: fantastic!
Review: This book is great becuase just when D'Souza made a point that I disagreed with, he backed up his opinion with a valid explanation that totally changed my views. It was a great book that I read in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. His humor and intelligence combine to make a truly great book. I recommend it to all generations.

Rating:
Summary: Get the book, not the audio CD.
Review: Excellent book! A must read for all Americans. I liked it so much, I ended up purchasing several copies and sending them to my friends as Xmas gifts. I only have one criticism about the audio CD though and this is the main reason I'm writing this review. Each audio CD is an entire chapter without any breaks. Therefore, if you get distracted while listening to it, you have to go back to the beginning of the CD which is usually over 1 hour long. Most other audio books are normally divided into 15 to 18 subchapters which allows you to rewind to the previous subchapter rather than have to listen to the whole thing all over. I hope D'Souza will take this feature under consideration when he makes his next audio book. He's got me as a loyal reader, I'd like to become a loyal listener as well.

Rating:
Summary: One thing I agree with D'Souza
Review: "America is the greatest, freest, and most decent society in existence"

And that is because of liberalism. The more the conservative agenda gets put in place, the more my freedoms are curtailed, the more I see decency being assaulted.

For that reason, Mr Dinesh book is superfluous, and that explains my low rating. For America to remain great, we need to be liberal. After all, upon examination of its etymology, "liberal" means free.

Rating:
Summary: I had to think about this for a month before writing
Review: I kept putting off writing this review to allow time to let me gain perspective on what I had just read. Despite waiting for nearly a month, I hardly know where to start. This is a profound intellectual argument for the greatness of America. In it the author answers the question so many Americans are asking themselves now: Why do they hate us? He considers the three basic currents of opposition to America's global influence: the European critique, the Asian critique, and the Islamic critique.

The title itself is galling to the politically correct multi-cuturalist who believe that all cultures are equal, except, of course, for the decedent America culture. But if one would put aside emotionalism and listen to the argument D Souza expostulates, he makes a compelling case that American culture is superior. Not because he declare it so, but because the poor of the world emulate our culture and desire to become Americanized.

This is not the ranting of a right-wing ideologue. Granted, the author is a self-confessed conservative, but he is a conservative who will take on not only the doomsayers of the left, but those on the right as well. He gives us a hopeful picture of the future. Whats So Great About America is a fresh breeze of optimism.

Rating:
Summary: Superb, Articulate, Accurate, Truthful!!!
Review: This is easily D'Souza's best book. He ties together various points to produce this composite which thoroughly explains why America is the best country in the world. Liberals are simply unable to answer the following questions that destroy their intellectually bankrupt arguments that buckle under the slightest scrutiny.

He explains why Liberals believe the following seven lies :

1) America is rich only because it has stolen money from other countries. Africa would be rich if America had not stolen from Africa. Even the wealth created in the last 10 years from software development was the result of exploiting the Amazon jungles and the Congo.
2) Blacks in the US deserve reparations, even from people who's ancestors came to the US much later than the Civil War. Even Asian American taxpayers who arrived in the 1970s must pay reparations to Blacks who would otherwise be wealthy in Africa had they not been taken from there. Blacks are continually discriminated against by whites to this day at every possible opportunity. The fact that black immigrants from Dominica and Jamaica are doing much better than African Americans means that they are selectively not subjected to racism, even though their skin is even darker.
3) The SAT is racially biased. The fact that Korean, Chinese, and Indian students do better than whites still means that it is biased against blacks.
4) All rich people are rich because they had rich parents. If someone has poor parents, they have no chance. Communism, which fairly redistributes the fixed amount of dollars in the US, is the only fair solution. Even the immigrants who became rich after coming here (Andy Grove, George Soros, Vinod Khosla, Arnold Schwarznegger, etc.) have exploited others.
5) Bush's tax cut only favors the rich. The person making $300,000 was paying $100,000 in taxes, and now will only pay $80,000, getting a refund of $20,000! The person making only $20,000 was paying $2000 in taxes, and now will still pay $1500, getting a refund of only $500. It is unfair that the rich person gets a refund that is 40 times larger than the poor person! They should get a refund of the same size! The fact that the rich person is STILL paying $80,000 while the poor person is only paying $1500, or less than 2% as much, is irrelevent. The rich are evil, and we have to take it away.
6) We have NO right to attack the Taliban, even though they don't allow girls to go to school and force women to wear a burkha. Women in the US, however, are still held back by the glass ceiling.
7) All the world's cultures are equal. The fact that immigrants from every part of the globe want to leave their countries and come to the US is not a valid point. I do not need to visit Africa, China, Brazil, or Iraq to know that their cultures are better than America. It is okay for China to massacre its own students at Tianamen, and conduct genocide against Tibetans and Uighurs, but it is wrong for the US to attack the Taliban while providing food for the Afghan people.

If you are a conservative who is angered by liberals who put forth these arguments, you will find indestructable firepower for your next argument in this book. No other book provides so comprehensive an arsenal to demolish the liberal shibboleths as this one. You will also know when you have WON when liberals say 'you are dumb' or 'you don't know' without putting forth an intelligent sentence.

If you are a liberal who thinks the above are true, read this book if you actually believe in free speech (liberals usually only believe in free speech when it consists of their own liberal intellectual incest.). Prove that you are not a hypocrite and read this book.

Note that the fools giving this book one star do not actually point out any flaws in D'Souza's reasoning, but just scream about things not relevant to this book. That is because D'SOUZA HAS ALREADY ANALYZED AND DEFEATED THEIR POINTS, and they have no choice but to cry in protest to their being outwitted and embarrassed. Read this book before your next debate against some liberal pseudo-intellectual.

Liberals are so dumb that their fanatical beliefs have actually become their religion. They are religious fanatics to just as great a degree as a Crackpot Christian.

Liberals are also incredibly racist - they hate D'Souza only because he is a dark-skinned person who does not subscribe to their fanatical religion of liberalism.

Rating:
Summary: A great, great book
Review: This should be required reading for high school and college students. Mr. D'Souza presents a common-sense, convincing, straightforward analysis of the United States, western civilization, and their place in the world. The other main thrust of the book is an analysis of Islamic fundamentalism why it is tied to terrorism. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: What's so Great About America
Review: What's so great about America? A question posed by many and answered by few. Dinesh D'Souza, an Indian immigrant and now American national, answers this question by tackling America's issues, not as a jingoistic patriot, but as an outsider becoming an American. His frank, honest views are refreshing in growing up "in the system" does not taint them. He can bring up America's hardest, most sensitive issues without fear of being accused of promoting a political, social, economic, or racial agenda. His views will find agreement in both the liberal and conservative circles as well as drawing criticism from the left and right. This book is well researched evident by the bibliography with works from varied authors. Only those who are too closed minded to see any argument but their own will despise this book. As an American who was born and raised in America, I lost sight of what made America so great. I became complacent. After reading Dinesh's book I have found my way again and have hope for our future. We are a nation that should not find pockets of people who agree with our views and culture, rather we should invite discussion and enjoy our diverse cultures while we all adapt to being American and striving to the American dream with our beloved freedom. I am proud to be an American, I am proud to defend her, and with Dinesh's book I learned more on "What's so Great About America".

Rating:
Summary: another bad creation -brought to u by dinesh ( Mr. America)
Review: Adding to what Toria Bean and Ramesh says about this book, from what i read in summary, this is another joke of a book where Dinesh only considers to look at the green grass as it benefited his position in more than one way. Now if you ask most ppl if america is so great you will definitely get different answers, not all will bow to the supposable fair country that promotes justice for all, besides, most of Europe abolished slavery way before the so called great america, also Europe is way more open than america about accepting different cultural expressions so i doubt if Dinesh has spent any time there to critique its open diversity. America only accepts cultures based on profit primarily, if you dont believe me then look at all of the kung fu schools, yoga schools, rappers that makes corporate america richer, different discipline religions that are taught for the right price, different little foreign something towns engulfed by the big american city, etc., the majority are ran by a western american, and poor ol' bruce lee is still crying over playing that pathetic sidekick in the green hornet lmao! Now if anything, america should be seen as being great for exploiting other ppls cultures and customs, this is the number one reason why our economy is doing so well, if corporate america would give all of the illegal immigrants citizenship and a above minimum wage then america would suffer a decline in profits, so tell me what is so great about monopolizing?, this is what a bully country will ratinalize as being fair and legit and will hide any wrong doing, indeed i will not purchase such nonsense as this book, which only seems to support the conservative onesided view of america with no regards to its darkside that makes it hard for the average american to overcome, just ask the indians who are still to this day overlooked and very few, maybe because a number of western americans are now trying to hide their guilt by claiming to be one of them (indian) hmmm lol! I see america as a lucky country, meaning, if america would have lost the wars that put it on top, ppl would have looked at some other country to exult. So to sum it all up Dinesh is just one brown noser out of many who will do and say whatever it takes to keep a steady above average class income, Dinesh should have been an engineer or computer scientist because this book and other books by him is nothing more than metro-rightwing support, so Dinesh just say no to the skin flute lmao! If you want to polish something then find the time to that to your mirror as it will reveal the plastic individual in front of it. ching! ching!

Rating:
Summary: Not so great
Review: This book is based entirely on wilful ignorance, and seeks to reinforce what much of the rest of the world recognizes as America's bizarre, delusionary self-image.
Put simply, the world isn't just America or India - there are lots of gradations in-between and many of the things that D'Souza thinks are unique about the American way of life simply aren't. Indeed, the US has lagged behind many other Western democracies on issues such as slavery, equal opportunities and sexual freedom, and despite its fondness for condemning Europe for colonial misdemeanours we now see America as the one power who has yet to learn that imperialism is a road to ruin. America has the best rhetoric, but not exactly the best record on social mobility and women's rights, either (Scandinavia, for instance, has excellent policies in this area which have meant more freedom and happiness for many people, but D'Souza is incapable of making observations on this because it doesn't fit in with monolithic images of Good America, Bad East, Outdated Europe - where the hell is Scandanavia, anyhow, he might as well ask).
Books like this encourage people to believe that there is only one way to live, the American way, yet the American economy and US foreign policies are aimed at making sure no one else CAN live this way. We want all the world energy resources for ourselves, refuse to compete on a level playing field in terms of trade and need to have the populations of poor countries to do the worst jobs for us. Oppressive regimes are acceptable and indeed supported, as long as they don't threaten us. The fact is, America would fall apart if it gave the rest of the world the opportunity to adopt its ideals (and as the hyperpower, the ball is in America's court, and I don't expect for a minute that the US should risk making its citizens unhappy for the sake of global fairness - I just expect a bit more honesty about the relationship between freedom and self-interest).
What's so great about America? - it's like asking what's so great about being the playground bully or small-time dictator. Of course it's great if it's you, but then it's all rather horrendous once you start to gain some self-awareness.

Rating:
Summary: What's so great about this book?
Review: Not much. The book contains nothing new. The author is not objective The author seems to have an unjustified belief in the supriority of Westen culture and uses cleverly selected examples to support his arguments.

I will quote from a review of his book in the Hindustan Times website on July 10, 2003 by Binay Kumar:
(begin quote)
"Writing in The Los Angeles Times last Sunday, D'Souza asks himself how his life would have been different if he had not come to America. His answers are illuminating, if not altogether amusing: "Had I remained in India, I probably would have lived my entire existence within a five-mile radius of where I was born... . I would have faced relentless pressure to become an engineer, a doctor or a computer programmer (I don't understand what is so demeaning about becoming an engineer, a doctor or a programmer; but, pray tell me, bow could he have done that with a B.A. in English!).

"What D'Souza doesn't understand or care to consider is that nobody in India grudges the greatness he has amassed for himself in America nor does anybody back home mind the slippery route he chose to embark on that journey ( because it has undoubtedly brought dividends for him). However, his raves and rants beg an altogether different question: Why should it necessarily degenerate into India-bashing? The only plausible answer is that D'Souza and his ilk (and believe me there is no dearth of them) nurse a deep grudge in their subconscious for having failed to make it big in the land of their birth and the home of their forefathers.

"The perceived rejection - valid or imagined - at the hands of the motherland is a psychological scar difficult to live down. It's like being disowned by your mother. The naturalisation process doesn't take away from the fact that the accolades of an adopted country do not make it a motherland. Mr D'Souza would do well to remember that no girlfriend or a wife ever replaced a mother!
(End quote)