Europe - Social History, European Studies - General & Miscellaneous, Psychological Anthropology, Europe - Civilization, National Characteristics - Europe, Cross-Cultural Psychology
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Overview
Millions of Americans travel to Europe every year for business and pleasure. Many are perplexed by the way Europeans think and behave. Europeans often seem rude and distant, or they seem offended by the outgoing, friendly nature of Americans. In Understanding Europeans, Stuart Miller attempts to untangle the mystery of the Homo europus - the modern European. He offers a brief, insightful course in European history, showing how events of the distant as well as the recent past have shaped European thinking and behavior. Importantly, in his observations on European differences, Miller also sheds light on the roots of American behavior. Miller lived in Europe for many years, studying European culture and ultimately marrying a European. His book is replete with sharp insights and tellingly funny anecdotes about the tendency of Americans and Europeans to stumble over one anothers' cultures. Understanding Europeans is an essential book for travelers, business people, students, and anyone who wishes to understand our European cousins.Editorials
Library Journal
The first edition of this work was titled Painted in Blood (LJ 2/15/87), and not much has changed in the new edition. Miller has added a new preface and afterword explaining that the original ideas still apply to post-Communist Europe and in many ways to the rest of the non-American world. Miller contrasts American and European outlooks and behavior, offering anecdotal evidence from his studies and travels, his knowledge of European languages, and his marriage to a Belgian as a foundation for generalizing about the European character. He argues that European thought has been dominated by various concepts of hierarchy, class, gender, family, and so on, while America has been more flexible. Europeans are also more conscious of the value of materials than Americans, who pursue and waste goods more than they value them. The American and European cultures are becoming more similar over time, and the challenge is "to adopt the other's good and leave behind as much of the bad as possible." Recommended for European, American studies, and psychology collections that do not own the first edition.-William R. Smith, Johns Hopkins Univ. Lib., BaltimoreBook Details
Published
March 25, 1999
Publisher
Muir (John) Publications,U.S.
Pages
258
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781562612948