General & Miscellaneous French History, United States Studies - General & Miscellaneous, German History - Social Aspects, United States History - General & Miscellaneous, Public Opinion - United States, National Characteristics - North America
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Overview
With wit and passion, Ceaser traces the origins of the negative images of America, beginning with French scientists in the middle of the eighteenth century who viewed the country as a land of racial and physical degeneracy, and continuing with German thinkers from Hegel to Nietzsche, Spengler, and Heidegger, who viewed America as culturally inferior and a technological wasteland. Ceaser puts these critics of America in a dialogue with the country's defenders - among them Alexander Hamilton, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Leo Strauss. By revealing the sources of the hostility to America, Ceaser undermines the position of its present attackers. He contends that only if we reassert political science rather than cultural and literary criticism as the proper intellectual discipline for directing politics will we free the real America from the symbolic America and vindicate its name.Editorials
Adam Wolfson
The most important lesson of Mr. Ceaser's important book [is that] in shaping public policy and in deciding political matters, we should be guided not by the images of America concocted by the philosophers but by our own political principles and practices. We should remember that buried beneath the 'symbolic America' foisted upon us by Hollywood—and indirectly supplied by such philosophers as Heidegger—there lies what Mr. Ceaser calls the 'real America.'—(Wall Street Journal)
John S. Gardner
An important book...about the European image of the United States, showing the ways in which philosophers of both left and right have constructed a symbolic America often bearing little resemblance to the place itself. [This] wryly written...book is a timely corrective to loose thought in the academy and a candid appeal to reason.—( Weekly Standard)
Library Journal
An engagingly written excursion through American and European political and intellectual history, this book touches on an important issue in contemporary American society: not only how other countries see America but the negative attitudes prevalent among certain groups, including academics here at home. . . . This book's positive appraisal, written in a style accessible to the lay reader, could be of interest to a wide readership.Tevi Troy
Europeans have been condescending toward America for upwards of two centuries, and they do not appear to be stopping now. In this challenging but rewarding book, Mr. Ceasar provides Americans with the tools to start fighting back.—(Washington Times)
Book Details
Published
September 1, 1997
Publisher
New Haven : Yale University Press, c1997.
Pages
304
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780300070538