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Summary: La Maladie Francaise
Review: This is a biting, intelligent book. Revel's great accomplishment here is both to show the great strengths and accomplishments of America and also the craven hypocrisy of European anti Americans, particularly his own countrymen. This book is enjoyable on two levels--both for its informative defense of American values and also for its skewering of the vile French. America is lucky to have such a champion.
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Summary: Absolute must-read
Review: This is a superb bird's-eye view of America, its role in the history and economy of the world. You'll learn a lot things from it that you wouldn't otherwise from the mass media media or even from history courses at America's best colleges. For example, after the attacks on US embassies, Congress shot down an Act that could have prevented 9/11 -- under pressure form the Left and Arab minority (even though the words "Arab" or "Muslim" were not mentioned in it once, they k n e w well what it was about). Now, of course, "Bush hadn't done enough..." The examples of surreal hypocrisy, bigotry, and anti-Westernism from Europe, mainly France, are eye-opening and cast a different light on their recent anti-American stance. Did you know that the educational system in France is a total failure, their crime is rampant, and NOT everyone has health coverage -- all these ills always quoted in the Land of Cheese as quintessentially American?The chapter on the real effects of globalization on poor countries is by itself worth the price of the book. GREAT AMMO FOR CONVERSATIONS WITH LEFT-WINGERS AT COCKTAIL PARTIES. It'll help you deal with some of the doubts about America and the West you may have developed while being constantly exposed to leftist propaganda. I was going to say that this book should be air-dropped on the centers of anti-westernism, but then I read the review by a "tri-zeta" below (one star...), who probably has even read the book, but it was like water off a duck's back. Such people cannot be helped; radical leftism is a mental disorder. All we can do is take good care educating our kids, and that means ridding the schools from the poison of political correctness. Buy this book, read it and pass it on.
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Summary: Commits all the rhetorical fallacies it decries
Review: Whether you agree or not with Revel's views, and in large part I think I could be persuaded (by a more reasoned argument), his presentation carries the whiff of desperation that accompanies all ideologues and partisan hacks.
This book is no doubt very popular with people who already share its worldview. I came across it looking for a reasoned and reasonable presentation of viewpoints not necessarily my own. What I found instead was a book full of logical fallacies, ad hominem attacks, straw men, and the worst of the rhetorical games that can be played.
If you want a cheerleader to get you pumping your fist in the air a la Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken or Michael Moore or Bill O'Reilly, then this book will be great for your enthusiasm, if not necessarily for your intellect.
If you're looking for a thoughtful exploration of the nature of America, her standing in the world, and the reflexivity of that relationship, look elsewhere. If you find it, please let me know, I'm still looking.
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Summary: Anti-Americanism
Review: With a title like this, and a French author, many readers will assume that this is yet another anti-American diatribe fueled by the war in Iraq. However, Revel (Without Marx or Jesus; Democracy Against Itself), a longtime eloquent advocate of American power and policies, has sounded a consistent three-part theme: liberalism will turn out to be the greatest revolution of the 20th century, "the principle function of anti-Americanism has always been . . . to discredit liberalism," and the United States has usurped Europe as the leader of the world but is not an evil empire. In this new book, written and published in France in 2002, Revel provides more examples of the "intrinsically contradictory character of passionate anti-Americanism" as practiced in Europe before and after the September 11 attacks. Revel skillfully dismantles false assumptions, outmoded theories, and outright lies-from both the political Left and the Right throughout the world. Besides his persuasive defense of the United States, he is highly critical of European policies, past and present. He concludes with a grim analysis of "hyperterrorist" activity, whose ultimate target is "democratic, secular, multi-denominational civilization." This sobering and eye-opening book is highly recommended for all libraries.-
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Summary: Scathing indictment of Euro/Left hypocrisy towards US
Review: With the US domestic/foreign/environmental policies being attacked from nearly every corner of the globe, it was a pleasant suprise to read such an articulate defense from such an unexpected corner. Though he does not withhold critisism of the US where due, the spotlight he shines on the hypocrisy of modern European complaints about the US was refreshing. I imagine Revel is not particularly popular in Europe, but he's always welcome at my house.
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Summary: Yes, Virginia, there are French Uncle Toms...
Review: Wow. Poor America. Its corporations pillage the face of the world with impunity (one need look no further than the president's cabinet and those fortunate Haliburton stockholders so decently pitching in to, *rebuild* Iraq!) and, yet, alas, no one loves us. Our populace is loathed far and wide. Why? It's not like we have anything to do with it right? We just live here... It's not as if we're a nation of illiterate, self-righteous, bovine jerks that have abdicated any sense of global (or national) obligation... How come nobody likes us? Even our allies... So sad- But just when you thought all was lost, here comes some bought-off Frog, whispering- "NO. it's not American foreign policy and unchecked corporate greed. It's Europe's desperate desire to 'project our faults onto America so as to absolve ourselves.' That's the REAL problem. And boy is that one mama-yama! Whew. Well, now I can sleep again. Oh, and Revel also strokes our collective egos by reminding us how the US has guided the destiny of the world ever since we won WWII. Which actually struck me as kinda odd, since I thought it was RUSSIA, with its 29,000,000 military and 50,000,000 civilian casualties, bleeding the Germans dry on the Eastern front and felling 85% (rounded down) of all the German casualties in the war, that turned the tide against the Nazis. In fact, Military historians date the war's turning point two years before D-Day when, at Stalingrad, the Soviets eradicated 50-freakin' divisions from the Axis order of battle. Or perhaps the year before when, at Kursk, the Red Army annihilated the Wehrmacht's strategic tank force, breaking the Nazis' capacity for large-scale attacks. And, hey, wasn't it the Red Army that liberated Auschwitz? But what do I know, obviously I'm just some self-hating pinko degenerate, prowling the streets of Anytown, USA with hairy palms, right?
Revel also notes how the EU is being run into the ground. Well, we all knew that! That's why the iron dollar is faring so well against the Euro. Your tax cuts at work... Are we at 3/4 the Euro yet? Ah, tremble at the might of our mighty dollar, all ye foreign-types! Avert thine eyes! And I just read that the Russian ruble has appreciated against the dollar, in the past month. Oh Well, it just means that us chosen, the freedom-mongers, can get more bang for our buck at the nearest village product-collective, er, I mean Wal-Mart. Hmmmmm... Now that I think about it... But don't worry! Globalism will save us! Revel is here to reassure us of this too, and he shows how all those angry Europeans are traitors to the cause of free-market economics and that most benign of isms- globalism! Say it with me, and say it loud! Never mind those uppity spics who walked out of the Cancun talks, they'll learn their place! And never mind that the Russian electorate recently dumped their 'Democrats' (SPS and Yabloko) in the most recent election (seeing as how globalism in Russia, in the 90's, basically translated into 'everything stolen by former party functionaries with state money- no jobs, and general hell on earth'). For those of you not in the know- Russia just overwhelmingly voted in a Duma that is as anti-capitalist and anti-neo-liberal as it is anti-Western. Oh no! If those pesky, ungrateful Ruskies don't watch out, they may end up just like France!!!! Gasp! Every Russian's worst nightmare- a first world country with 35 a hour work week, low crime and a coast on the Mediterranean. Globalism... "Hey all you third world nations, just sign (your souls, economic assets and mineral rights) on the dotted line or risk experiencing the long end of America's economic stick. Those who don't will be shown for the whinging totalitarian/fascist/terrorist states they are." Kinda Like what happened last year in Venezuela, when Bush's former mouthpiece, Ari Fleischer declared of the coup by military junta (that overthrew a popularly elected president), "Now the situation will be one of calm and tranquility." Unfortunately the popular Chavez was returned to power. Hey, didn't these guys learn anything from what we did to Chile in the 70's? "Ju doan wanna mess wit us, mang! We sik da Kissinga on ju asses, mang! Viva la Globalisma!" Thank you Revel, for 'reveling' to us how right we are and always have been. Your sanctimonious idiocies will sell a billion books and remind millions of Americans that we protect the world and light it at night, a shining beacon to all those less-fortunate. Oh how they envy us in Europe, I can smell the smoldering jealousy of those damned with their universal health care and an average of 10 weeks paid vacation a year. Pity them and forgive them, for they know not what they do. Hey, can anyone tell me how many Americans have been wounded in Iraq since the end of the hostilities? Not killed, just wounded? Oh, something like 9,000, huh? Wow. S'ok, I mean, if President AWOL can live with that, well, who am I to complain?
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Summary: French journalist thoughtfully re-examines anti-Americanism
Review: ~American readers may be surprised to discover that this putatively pro-American book reached the best-seller list in France. It is written by a French intellectual and journalist who, at nearly eighty years of age, knows the United States well (having written on the same subject nearly three decades ago in a book called Ni Jesus Ni Marx or, in English, Without Jesus or Marx ). The global position of the United States having evolved considerably since his previous book, Revel takes a fresh look~~ at this question in a larger context of debates worldwide on globalization, and not just U.S. society and foreign policy. Published about a year after the events of September 11, 2001, the book takes a fresh look at the root causes of anti-Americanism, particularly in France, but also, to some extent, in Europe and the rest of the world, although some critics in France argue that he uses the book to pursue his own hidden political bias against certain French elites and domestic policies. ~Revel examines the mixed and often contradictory dual sense of envy and contempt that the United States inspires abroad, seeking to identify which of these attitudes are objectively based. He generally contends that it was this long-established ambivalent set of feelings outside the Untied States, and not the aftermath of 9/11, which underlies the resurgence of negative attitudes to the United States. Revel's style is full of irony and paradox as he takes on subjects as diverse as attitudes~~~ on globalization, foreign fears of cultural extinction from Americanisms, and foreign policy. He sees in the anti-globalization debate a deeper resentment of American ideals of economic free-market liberalism. He challenges the demonstrators at the Seattle WTO meeting or at other anti-globalziaiton rallies which periodically sprout up, to look at the contradiction between their assault on so-called unbridled market ideology of free trade and the real attempts of the WTO to create rules of trade~~ which most developing countries are seeking to join. In an interesting final chapter, Revel blames the anti-americanism of foreign governments as actually bolstering the American superpower status which they revile. To characterize this book as pro-American simply beause it challenges a wide range of attitudes that have broadly come to be seen as anti-American is to misunderstand some of the arguments Revel makes. There is some interesting historical and sociological analysis which makes~~ reading this book a few times worthwhile if you wish to decode contemporary attitudes to the United States in a much deeper and, ultimately, more illuminating historical framework of understanding.~
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