Customer Reviews

America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked

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We cannot be secure without the respect and understanding of others. One approach to falling support for America is to see the problem as a giant misunderstanding ("if they only knew we are generally religious, love our children, and have high-minded goals"), and another is to blame the global media for distorting and misreporting news about the U.S. A third approach, much more likely to lead to improvement, is based on objective analyses of what caused people overseas to form the positions that they have, and to ask what it might take to soften them. The Pew Research Center undertook a series of global opinion surveys from '02-'05 involving 91,000+ people in 50 nations to discover how the world views America and its people.

Allied nations, post Cold-War, now feel able to act independently of U.S. wishes. One startling conclusion is that over 70% of non-Americans believe the world would be improved if the U.S. faced a rival military power. Bush's early policy decisions (eg. backing away from the Kyoto treaty, other unilateral approaches) were unpopular abroad prior to 9/11. His re-election in '04 broadened dislike of American policies (already at a low point due to the Iraq invasion) to include Americans themselves.

Another interesting finding was that the proportion of religious belief in America (about 94%) is much higher than in Europe (eg. 50% in Germany), and closer to that in the Middle East. A related finding is that white evangelicals (ESPECIALLY conservatives) are much more pro-Israel than Americans as a whole!)

Other findings about Americans include the result that only about 1 in 4 Americans felt increased trade has been very good for the U.S. and/or themselves, though other studies in the book have reported much more positive findings. However, its report that most Americans are supportive of immigration from Mexico is STRONGLY at odds with most other reports. Thus, one starts to wonder how accurate polling is overall.

I found this book to be politically neutral. And I found the numerous tables, charts, and graphs fascinating. Sure, there may be some errors in the way the polls were taken (as well as in the choices of questions to ask). But Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes at least made an attempt to find out what people think of us. We see discussions of attitudes about religion in America, attitudes about terror, attitudes about the United Nations, nationalism, exceptionalism, and meddling in the affairs of others. And we see how those in other nations claim to feel about some of the same issues.

The authors say that anti-Americanism has grown in the past few years, especially in France. That may well be true. In addition, when they discuss American nationalism, they make an interesting point: our nationalism is not much like the whining "let's-get-even" style that some folks use to respond to "humiliation." In that sense, I think it is reasonable and fair to see it as relatively benign. I also think there is a good discussion of American values and American love of freedom and independence.

I recommend this book.

The title is quite misleading, because this analysis of world opinion surveys shows relatively small differences in attitudes between Americans and people in most other countries. The book sets out ambitiously, asking tough questions on the reasons behind a serious decline in respect for the United States over most of the planet. Building on the new wealth of world opinion polling data, it offers a solid data-based analysis of the problem. Much of it involves detailed comparison of these surveys, done in a carefully non-partisan, social science manner. It becomes mainly a quantitative comparison of differences, which are not really that big.

In the background Kohut and Stokes also discuss qualitative differences, but this requires citing opinions of individual people. And though these personal views are the least scientific, they are also the most thought-provoking parts of the book. Perhaps most of the opinions cited concern America's internal debate over primary values, and probably this is the most relevant thing of all. For example, former U.S. ambassador to China J. Stapleton Roy claims, "The American system of checks and balances is predicated on the notion that power is corrupting. And the same principle is viable in the international community. Being the sole superpower is a dangerous position for the United States to be in".

If you have ever wondered why millions of people around the planet seem to dislike the United States so intensely then "America Against the World" is certainly a pretty good place to start your research. Co-authors Andrew Kohut, Director of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press and Bruce Stokes, international economist for the National Journal, have cobbled together a fairly interesting book based on a series of global surveys undertaken by Pew. Much of what these surveys uncovered about world opinion of the United States as a nation really came as no surprise to me. But what was rather unsettling was the revelation that world opinion of the American people has seemingly taken a nosedive over the past few years. While a majority of people overseas concede that Americans are generally industrious and highly creative they also view us as greedy, somewhat dishonest in our business dealings and overly religious. For a variety of reasons Americans view the world very differently from people in the rest of the world, most especially the Europeans and of course Muslims. And frankly, it is really not difficult to understand why these people feel the way they do. People all over the world believe that American culture and values are being shoved down their throats. Americans seem to think this is a good thing but many around the world disagree vehemently. People all over the world also object to our current interventionist foreign policy and many have a particular distaste for President George W. Bush whom they view as some sort of "cowboy". "America Against The World" will help you to understand these important issues more clearly. I have read this kind of book before and I find that they usually become somewhat repetitive and I begin to lose interest. That was the case with this book as well. Nevertheless, if the United States is ever going to repair relations with the rest of the world then it is important that the American people discover what the rest of the world is objecting to and demand that our leaders make the necessary changes in our policies and priorities. It is high time that America rejoined the world community. While it is certainly not the most scintillating book I have read "America Against the World" is nonetheless a useful book to read and digest.

This book is, pretty much, a summary of a set of Pew Institute surveys of opinion on the U.S., as well as in the U.S., during the early 2000s. Not unremarkably, considering the narrow time frame of the surveys, the results indicate that view of the U.S. , on many criteria, were quite negative. In addition to presenting the results of these surveys, the book also compares and contrasts the views of U.S. citizens and those overseas, particularly in regards to how the U.S. is viewed internationally and how the U.S. views many nations. Not surprisingly (again), there is quite a large difference between how the U.S. sees how it is perceived overseas (during the time period covered) and how it actually was.

The book does a fair job at describing these results albeit the presentation could have been considerably improved. Many of the tables, for example, have labeling that leaves much to be desired. In addition, differences between Democrats, Republicans and Independents on many issues (i.e., Iraq, capital punishment, etc.) are discussed and compared with aggregate data in many nations overseas (no break out of foreign results by political left, right and center). This is a serious oversight in the book as it, to a large extent, overlooks the fact that opinion between the U.S. right, left and center is far closer to foreigners of similar political leanings rather than Democrats and Republicans (i.e.., the right in the U.S. and France, for example, is much more similar than the left and right in the U.S.)! Lastly and probably most importantly, causality for the differences in views between the U.S. and many foreign nations are not analyzed. Hence, to a large degree, the purpose of the book has been defeated.

This book is a perfect example of the writers drawing a general conclusion then using only portions of the relevant data to support their argument. The timing of this book also discredits the general thesis as well as the writers try to make BROAD statements about America's place in the world while using data that is a snap shot of one particular controversial period of American foreign policy. While looking at some of the graphs, notice the nations excluded from the discussion. Israel, Australia, South Korea and the Latin American and South American nations barely get any mention. Why? because the data from these countries does not fit into the authors' conclusions.

The title of this work is somewhat misleading. While it does point towards a strong trend of disaffection of other nations towards the U.S. it is not as if they on the whole wish to go to war against American life and its institutions. They don't like the Bush Administration and they don't seem to like U.S. military intervention (Except perhaps when it comes to save them, something many, including the French and the British have long forgotten about). The European nations are less religious than Americans (Fifty percent plus over ninety- five are religious believers) less believing in the power of the individual to transform his own reality for the good, more dependent on the idea of state interference for the good of the citizen.
But while Americans and the peoples of the world have real differences in the emphases they place on certain values, they are according to the authors closer in fundamental attitudes now than they were a century ago. And the difference which is a real difference between them does not seem unbridgeable.
Morever while the authors are distressed by the a certain kind of anti- Americanism it seems to me it does not make too much sense to be distressed if people hate you because you are fostering democratic values, and individual freedoms. If there are totalitarian societies, and even religions which hate America for fostering democratic values, then the fault is not at all with America.
However there are worrisome points made by the authors. One is that the American tendency to go it alone means it has difficulty creating the kinds of alliances it needs to create to promote international action. This is a problem as the Bush Administration struggles on in Iraq, receiving less than minimal support from many nations which should be its allies.
There is another major point I do not know if the author's mention enough, the point made by Robert Kagan in his researches. i.e. that pacificistic Europe is powerless Europe and so looks with envy on an interventionist U.S. which can use its power for good in the world.
The different 'power- situations' between the Europeans the U.S. dictate differences in world- views.
The way out of this?
Let the U.S. win the war on Terror, decisively clobber Islamic fundamentalism, solve the global energy problem and lead to a greater prosperity for all of mankind, reduce the use of fossil fuels in such a way as to minimize global- warming- go a long way towards creating a new era of peace and prosperity- and the U.S. will once again be loved as it was when it was believed in the aftermath of the Second World War- that it had helped save the world.

I could not finish reading this book, because I got too involved in studying all the charts and graphs. They tell us (assuming the data is accurate) that we are a little bit diffrent but so is every other nation -- but America is the only super power and that will not make you super popular.

I love books like this written by liberals like this because the thesis is so easy to understand "I [the author's name] and the rest of the world hates America because of Republican Evangelical Christians." Go into any bookstore like the one I work in, and you will see tones of these kinds of books along with the usual foolishness from Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. An easy thesis to spill into several hundred pages worth of meaningless politically correct wordings. Basically it is this: If you are a Republican Evangelical Christian (opposed to the liberalized Dan Brown, Elaine Pagels, John Sponge, kind of "Christian", which really isn't a Christian by the Book), then you are causing America to be hated by France, the Middle East, Asia, et cetera. Just because we want there to be a moral compass for the United States, and be unafraid to express this moral compass to the world, we are bad guys. Just because we want to make a stand and not cower before rogue states that want to kill us, we are the bad guys. Just because we want this country to be a republic, and not some socialist regime like the liberal party and most of the world "enjoys," again, we are the bad guys. Very easy to write a book when you have nothing really engaging to say except "America is bad, so there..." kind of attitude. The problem with disagreeing with this book is that it is so easy to disagree with it. Do you really care to have the UN subjegate and control our country? And how this can happen? If you do, then I guess you'll give this a five star review. I would highly suggest you read this book, then, if you agree with it, find a Sam Harris or an Elaine Pagels book to finish your lobotomy (and hopefully move to those countries that you DO love, like France, they need more snail eaters there I imagine). If you don't agree with this book, then good for you, you have had a epiphany of a realization.

This is an excellent book for any Bush-bashing club or anti-neocon socialites. The book is based almost entirely on faulty data from polls. Many of the questions in the polls (available on-line) ask respondents to judge things they can't possibly know, and the polls are given the weight of authority. Having traveled on 5 continents in the past 10 years, I can tell you that the world only hates America in one place: in the media! Everywhere else, people basically don't even care. Some absolutely adore America, a few hate us. All you have to do is look at how many people are trying to get into the country, buying American products and emulating any part of American culture to know that there really is no such thing as anti-Americanism. Okay, maybe some international terrorists hate us, too, but I think we all know why!