What Every American Should Know About Europe: The Hot Spots, Hotshots, Political Muck-ups, Cross-Border Sniping, and Cultural Chaos of Our Transatlantic Cousins (Paperback)

~ Melissa Rossi (Author) "Is it the flaky croissant, the stone houses amid lavender fields, the location nudged against an ocean, two seas, or the Alps that draws 75..." (more)
Key Phrases: Soviet Union, United States, European Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest, well-informed author and Ohio native Rossi (What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World) might be writing an irreverant "Cliff's Notes" for American geography students who have difficulty finding Europe on a map, were it not for her opinionated voice and her commitment to "European history and culture that we rarely learn in school." Deliberately playing to the Ugly American vantage point, Rossi divides the book into two parts, "Old Europe" and "New Europe," though, in characteristic fashion, she efficiently delineates the real-world differences between "Western Europe and Greece" (the Old) and the largely post-Communist eastern counterparts (the New) without losing her playful attitude. In 28 entries, Rossi has created an engaging travel guide complete with the basics-demographics, history, hot spots and notable natives-as well as numerous digressions, including the significance of Ireland's groundbreaking television comedy Father Ted; Poland's answer to the Olsen twins, actors-turned-moral crusaders the Kaczynski twins; and Sweden's innovative use of booze and manure for fuel. Rossi is most skilled in keeping her guide balanced: sidebar stories on significant events, scandals and achievements add depth and definition to each profile, while the one-line summaries included in the introductions ("France: Most Land, most pushy, biggest food producer") keep things pithy.
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Product Description

From the bestselling What Every American Should Know … series, a look at the hot spots, hot shots, political muck ups, cross-border sniping and cultural brouhahas across the ocean

With the creation of the European Union and the introduction of the Euro, Europe has undergone a dizzying transformation recently—so much so that even Europeans are scratching their heads. Melissa Rossi brings US readers up to date on what has changed—and what makes each country tick.

* Which European nation most adores nuclear energy?
* Which country’s residents are by far the richest?
* Which prominent leader was once a taxi driver?
* Why are the typically calm Dutch getting twitchy?
* What happened to Czechoslovakia?

With her trademark investigative flair and wry humor, Rossi gives the inside scoop on every nation in the European Union, with vital facts about local culture, politics, tourist attractions and recent events. From Portugal to Poland, What Every American Should Know About Europe is a no holds barred, humorous and comprehensive guide for anyone interested in what our transatlantic cousins are up to these days.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Plume (November 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452287766
• ISBN-13: 978-0452287761
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What the heck is a Malta?, January 14, 2007

By	Z. Petit - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll admit: I have never been to Europe.
Second confession: Despite majoring in political science in college, I left school knowing very little about the real intricacies and tangles of history that make up this small, diverse section of the world.

When Rossi's "What Every American Should Know About Europe" came out, I sought a copy for these reasons. The bold "What every American should know..." title hooked me after her first book of the series hit the shelves, and I bought it on a whim, looking for a quick reference overview of the world and to see if the claim held water.

After digesting her brand of humor and the way she presents information often overlooked by other current affairs books, I felt it was worth the money and doubled the impact (and, saved time) of regular texts specializing in the plethora of topics she covers.

Rossi's style of writing uses humor and her snappy perspective to deliver loads of information with ease. She has a knack for making what would otherwise be garbles of boring facts fun to read, and at the end of the book, you realize you actually learned something. I still keep her past books around to reference when their various subject matters pop up in the news.

In the Europe book she covers hoards of locales and summarizes them cleverly and without hesitation to address the most sensitive topics in the region. Sprinkled throughout the books are also countless photos, maps and side-boxes to retain the attention span of even the most ADD readers. More importantly, it keeps the book - about 400 pages, sometimes seeming a little long - enjoyable and moving fast.

As for the previous comment about her politics, a reader always has to take into account that even if an author claims to not assume any bias (which I don't think Rossi does), all authors write with perspective. In my opinion, perspective gives the reader a better understanding of the material at hand, and moreover, offers interpretation to it based upon a certain train of thought.

Every situation can be looked at from innumerable angles, and it would be impossible to write about something as vast as the whole of Europe while feigning a nonsensical notion of objectivity the entire time.

Regardless, to me the book wasn't scribed in a "liberal" tone, but rather in the voice of someone who has actually traveled the region and made her own personal (and seemingly experienced) observations.

A catch with the book, as in all current affairs books, is they must be constantly updated to keep pace with the ever-shifting situations in different countries. It will still retain the historical information, however, which serves to explain much about why the countries stand - or fall - the way they do today.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars USA TODAY REVIEW SAYS IT ALL, January 13, 2007

By	Paxmafiosa (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

USA TODAY REVIEW - The Ugly American rap slapped on many U.S. travelers abroad has less to do with appearance (the enduring popularity of those his 'n' her tracksuits favored by many a trans-Atlantic flier notwithstanding) as it does with cultural ignorance.

What Every American Should Know About Europe by Melissa Rossi (Plume, $16) seeks to wise up those Americans who are considering a trip across the pond. The book is a revision of her 2005 The Armchair Diplomat on Europe written with the notion that many Europeans themselves were uninformed about the influence of the European Union.

Part tutorial, part guidebook and part trivia compendium, What Every American Should Know offers a country-by-country breakdown of "old Europe" (the 15 Western European nations that made up the EU before 2004) and "new Europe," composed of the 10 Eastern European countries admitted since then. Though it has been updated and reworked for an American audience, it's already a tad outdated given that Bulgaria and Romania, which didn't make it into the book, became the 26th and 27th members of the EU this month.

Nor does Rossi shy away from imposing the sort of stereotypes that might get an Ugly American into hot water. There are references to "gruff French," "oh-so-polite Brits" and "thoughtful Swedes." And some observations are so obvious ("Europe is entirely different from the United States, where culture is more or less homogeneous ...") that if this is news to you, maybe you should just stay home.

Still, the book is a handy mini refresher on pivotal events and people that shaped the nations of Europe -- why Ireland is divided; the basic philosophical differences between Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; what's behind chilly French-U.S. relations. It offers enough basic information that it might even prevent the "gruff French" from finding a visiting American ugly.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good book by Rossi, January 7, 2007

By	S. Lessard "sebless" (canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I like all her "to the point" book. this one was informative (and shocking at times). Im currently reading her last one (on europe) and it's a great one too.