Customer Reviews

Yin and Yang of American Culture: A Paradox

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eun Kim gives a fascinating insight into the differences between American and Asian Cultures and in so doing highlights the potential of a superior system which integrates the positives of both. The book is challenging, brave and thoughful. Her Global Virtues at the end of the book is a wonderful contribution towards affecting positive change in todays world.

A book that will broaden the perspective of all. Truly an elucidating experience, one that brings the conscience into a peace of sorts, realizing the eternal balance in life (Yin and Yang). This book is full of real-life and down to Earth experiences that anyone can relate to and learn from. A definite recommend to anyone who would like to possibly gain a different outlook on life, one that is of more positively directed. A must read.

I have decided to update and modify my own response of Eun Kim's book not at all because my review received only 2 out of 7 "helpful" votes, but because I think I need to provide more depth.
Eun Kim's writing style is eloquent, and sensing from her speech pattern she is congenial, respectable, amiable, and seems to possess alot of charisma. However I read the book with much ambiguity as it seemed to dance around the edges of judgementalism and it seemed she frequently made the error of pushing Asian ideals onto American culture.

Yes it can be helpful to say, "let's all take a big step backwards and take a look at ourselves here and see how we Americans are driving ourselves a little crazy," which is what Ms. Kim did very well in her book. That being said, I think that if one considers her book in the "Self Help/Cultural Psychology" segment of literature I concur the book did a good job of earning 4 Stars and the writing is splendid.

However I thought her views on Americans were generalized and theoretical, and I couldn't help but have a problem with the fact that she didn't seperate races, white behavior from black or other, or geographical regions.

Where the book loses substantial worth is when trying to propose her ideas as political or sociological. If a reader uses the book as a way of taking a light-hearted and even slightly comical view of the ironies in America then it seems fine and it is filled with many well read examples, but to take it any further and use the book's numerous explanations as reasoning for advocating political and social change the book unfortunately is not appropriate for such intentions. In that regard I couldn't help but call back to the phrase, "you're not in Kansas anymore." It frequently seemed, especially in the yin (dark) section of the book that she was wishing that America was alot more like the Far East, of which it isn't designed as so and cannot be. Her pattern repetitively was to mention a somewhat farcical or more rare example of culture in the U.S. and then mistakenly lapse into, "but in Asia..." mentioning how things are done with more uniformity and productivity -- her statements are valid in opinion, but also easily refutable, and such opinion can have a tone of disrespect for indigenious Americans.

For the purposes of self-discovery and cultural-awareness Eun Kim has done a fine job in her writing. The reader is simply advised not to employ the book if their search is to somehow prove America as 'disfunctional' or inferior, and to also keep in mind that America operates differently from Asia with many fine qualities.

The world is getting smaller. How do other cultures view our values? Do we place too much emphasis on individuality? At the expense of what? This book does not attempt to answer the questions of all cultures, but does a great job at helping us look at ourselves through the eyes of a culture thousands of years older than ours. I would say it is very insightful. The American Experiment is only 235 years old, and some cultures are probably wondering how long our experiment will last.

A book that will broaden the perspective of all. Truly an elucidating experience, one that brings the conscience into a peace of sorts, realizing the eternal balance in life (Yin and Yang). This book is full of real-life and down to Earth experiences that anyone can relate to and learn from. A definite recommend to anyone who would like to possibly gain a different outlook on life, one that is of more positively directed. A must read.