Customer Reviews

Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation

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I recently finished reading "Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation" and I liked it immensely. Let me mention the few aspects of the book that I enjoyed:

1) It is very comprehensive covering a wide plethora of issues which any serious student of America would be interested in. In total there are 21 different chapters, with each of the first 20 chapters dealing with different facets of life such as immigration, demographics, religion, the economy, etc. For someone wanting to read a single book to get a better and deeper understanding of America as a country, this is it.

2) I am glad that Dr. Wilson and Dr. Wilson, the editors of the book, stayed away from the urge of trying to author such a work on their own. By not doing so and having eminent scholars contribute their perspectives, we, as readers, have been able to glean insights from the leading experts in their fields and get glimpses of research across a variety of academic disciplines which no individual person could have possibly reviewed on his/ her own.

3) In part because of this (though not exclusively), the essays are generally extremely balanced and present both sides of the same issue.

4) Last but not the least, I am glad to note that neither Dr. Wilson nor Dr. Schuck abdicated their editorial responsibilities. Reading through the book, I get the distinct feeling that someone had actually taken the pains of reading through the entire manuscript and ensuring that facts and stats repeated in different sections of the text were consistent with each other. For example, the stats on the American fertility rate which shows up in more than one chapter has been sourced from the same source and is hence consistent across chapters, even though they were written by different authors.

Some thoughts regarding the drawbacks, minor as they are:
1) While it was nice to have a chapter on How Europe sees America, it would have been also nice to see a chapter on how the rest of the world sees the United States. Several of America's newest immigrants (including myself) are coming not from Europe but from Asia and Latin America and it would have been nice to see some discussion on how these developing countries see the United States.

2) I would have also liked to see a separate chapter on Foreign Policy. As the authors allude to, America is the 800-pound gorilla in the room and not having any significant discussion on issues of foreign policy, national security, and, geopolitics is a minor drawback.

In spite of all of the suggestions above, I nevertheless think Understanding America has been an extremely insightful read and worth the two days of my time over this weekend.

I am just finishing Understanding America. I found the essays uneven and strangely out of date. Let me start off with a few quibbles.

For one thing, there is no essay on communications and the Internet. How can one possibly understand America over the past 30 years without talking about Silicon Valley, the Internet, or mobile communications? Do all these guys come from Princeton, or something?

For another, the essay on the economy makes little mention of business, of the catastrophic de-industrialization of America, and the importance of WAL-MART. Benjamin Friedman puts me to sleep at the best of times, but his essay in this collection is truly one for the ages...or the ageless, take your choice. He rambled through the various Federal agencies that were supposed to protect investors, consumers, and the public, but didn't seem to find fault with any of them. For a good discussion of just how crappy these agencies are I highly recommend "The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash," by Charles R. Morris.

There is a splendid discussion of the drug culture, but nothing mentioned about America's gambling culture, Las Vegas, and the obsession with Wall Street.

No inclusive book about America today, I think, should omit the frequent abuses of executive power I have seen in my lifetime. Whether Nixon's abuses, or Dick Cheney's complicity in the policy of torturing "detainees" at Guantanamo Bay, or Clinton's behaviour with subordinates. Not to mention the litany of sexual scandals by members of Congress, Governors, you name it. Without this stuff, Meet the Press" just doesn't make any sense at all.

The first half of the book barely kept me awake. But it really picked up on the issue of immigration (which is actually handled better in "Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them," by Phillipe Legrain).

The essay which really woke me up was Orlando Patterson's on the state of black people in America today. His conclusion was that black people, and particularly black single mothers, are among the most socially isolated in America. That de-segregation of the schools never worked. That upward mobility is not generally available to poor blacks. Patterson is best known for his classic "Slavery and Social Death" which I still consider one of the finest books I have ever read.

Other essays I enjoyed include that on the mess that primary education has become, the challenges of funding health care, and the essay on the growing income inequality.

A minor disclaimer here: I am Canadian viewing from the outside, although I love American history, past and present. I really do like America. It makes great reading. It can't be any fun trying to run America. And this book is a great reminder of how difficult it is.

Super book... a collaborative undertaking by a brilliant panel... not to offer policy... but to assign a condition to America in different areas... and then compare these areas to the European nations and other democracies. Basically all domestic areas are covered, but not foreign affairs.
This is a refreshing look at our country. It will rekindle the hope we all share for this countries future. Hopefully it will also help reshape America's image in the world. There are only two countries where the image of America has increased: India and Russia.
The results of this huge study show that America is indeed quite unique amongst its democratic brethren. 75% of us have pride in our country, vs. 33% of the French, German, Italian or Japanese. 66% of us believe that success is of our own effort, vs. only 1/3 of Europeans. Over 50% of us believe that economic competition is good, vs. 1/3 of the French and Spaniards. 60% of us believe that children should be taught the value of hard work, while only 20% of Germans feel that way. There are many fascinating comparisons to ponder in this large book.
There are seven themes that are offered that show the areas where America is exceptional.
First is our culture of patriotism, religiosity, individualism and enterprise.
Second is our constitutionalism, with our emphasis on decentralization, individual rights over social rights, and suspicion of government.
Third is our economy which is very competitive, decentralized, and one that offers a higher standard of living.
Fourth is our diversity through immigration since our nation's inception. An interesting fact is that in New York City during 1790, there were more languages spoken than there are today. As far as immigration itself goes, Canada accepts more immigrants per capita than any other democracy.
Fifth is our civil society with its huge non-profit sector which provides a lot of our social policy. There is also philanthropy.
Sixth is our welfare state. We aren't as bad as 'they' say we are, but this still applies.
Finally there is our demography. U.S. rate of fertility is definitely unique amongst Western Democracies.
All of the panel that provided chapters for this book have their own unique ideas too, and no effort seems to have been made to homoginize their opinions or analysis.
Find out who America is - and how it compares - by reading this well-thought-out and enjoyable book.
Five Stars.

This text was a required supplement for my sociology seminar. It compiled short essays about the varying features of American society and politics. These essays are very useful summaries of America. Although each section provides many statistics to prove whether America is exceptional in that field or not, it is not very in depth. Each topic can be researched more thoroughly and opposite opinions can be formed from what each author believes. Overall, it is very informative and the author of each essay is one of the top experts in his/her field.