4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Careful what you wish for, Europe, December 1, 2008
This review is from: In Defense of America (Hardcover)
In Defense of America is Bronwen Maddox's rather provocative comparison of the criticisms leveled at the United States over the last eight years to the realities of the situation as she sees them from her seat in the U.K. The book is a provocative one primarily because of its Eurocentric point-of-view, a viewpoint that accepts most of the usual criticisms as valid ones and quarrels with them only as to matter of degree.
Maddox does, very early in the book, make a key point about all the criticism directed at the U.S.: it is simply not fair. As she puts it, "The accusations take the best of the United States for granted while exaggerating the worst, and ignore the complexity forced on America by its size and its constitution." She also makes the very valid point that Europe is setting itself up for a major disappointment if it expects to see major changes in policy under an Obama administration. Maddox, in fact, sees much of the criticism directed at the U.S. to be the inevitable offshoot of its status as the world's only remaining superpower and believes that the high tension level between the U.S. and the rest of the world would have occurred even without George W. Bush in the White House.
Maddox outlines a three-point defense for the United States: the success that the country has had in peacefully assimilating such diverse peoples peacefully under one government, how the rest of the world has benefitted from America's development of competitive capitalism, and the fact that American foreign policy is generally a defense of the values most dearly shared by Europe and America. She, however, does not offer much in defense of the U.S. approach to the "war on terror" that was implemented after 9-11 or its supposed lack of cooperation in fighting global warming.
One explanation offered by Maddox for the increase in European criticism of America is likely to irritate those critics themselves, particularly because of the way it was put by Tony Blair. Blair attributes much of the criticism to "jealousy about America's position, worry about American culture dominating European culture. Also, partly, America is the world superpower. Anyone who is preeminent always takes a bit of flak."
But as long as there are major differences between European and American thinking on topics such as the death penalty, abortion rights, the importance of religion and the way the war on terror is fought, European criticism will remain at a high and strident level. And none of the differences on those issue are likely to be resolved soon regardless of what the new U.S. administration has in mind.
In Defense of America reaches the conclusion that America's critics best be careful what they wish for: a U.S. government more like those of Europe. Maddox argues that the U.S. has been a force for good, influencing "many of the dramatic changes for the better in the world of the last two decades alone." She reminds those critics that seem to be so delighted with the problems faced by America today that they still largely depend on the U.S. for their own "prosperity and security." Perhaps she should also remind them that having so much in common with the world's only superpower is a good thing.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Relevant also to the non-conservative, October 24, 2008
This review is from: In Defense of America (Hardcover)
I think the book treats the subject, especially about America, quite fairly. Here in Amazon, this book is buried under the "Conservative" category when clearly the intended audience of this book are for those non-conservatives that are ambivalent about the anti-Americanism surrounding them. I can understand some readers giving a thumbs down to this book because of the author's treatment of Pres W. Bush, but in all, the book treats the anti-Americanism phenomena and its consequent blindness to the benign nature of the American project evenhandedly. I dare say the author can open up some eyes for those willing to be convinced. I also suggest, for American's sake, that Amazon don't categorize this as "conservative". It needs a wider audience.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible book... but not really offensive, September 9, 2008
This review is from: In Defense of America (Hardcover)
I learned only one thing by reading this--do not pick a random, interesting book out of Barnes and Noble and expect it to be worth your precious time and hard-earned money. This shelf clogger is redundant beyong belief, repeating every premise and point of evidence several times. Bronwen could have easily written the same thing more clearly and effectively in a three page article in The Economist--meaning that the book's lucid purpose is to trick suckers like me into parting with their $14. Well Bronwen, I hope you got to eat a really nice lunch, a personal thanks and apology would be much appreciated.
After spending my summer in France, however, where I couldn't talk to a single person without them lecturing me on the failings of Iraq and American monolingualism, this book came as a serious breath of air, and I can't agree at all that it is inherently critical of America. If the book had been a three-page Economist article, it would have been a very good one. It's nice to know that we do still have allies abroad who understand the issues we're confronted with and the extent of irrational bias we face.
So I came away from the book not so much disliking Bronwen, but more just wishing she would apologize for wasting my time and give me my money back.
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