Although the meaning of the phrase anti-American doesn't need to be explained, why anti-Americanism is spreading, especially in countries that have been allied with the United States, requires more consideration.
In Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem (Hoover Institution Press, 2004), Hoover senior fellow Russell A. Berman delves into the reasons behind the strained relations between the United States and some of its traditional European allies since September 11. In his newly published book Berman explores various dimensions of contemporary European anti-Americanism.
Because anti-Americanism is a cultural problem—albeit with enormous consequences for policy—Berman approaches it using the tools of cultural analysis. Thus the chapters in this book look at anti-Americanism in a variety of contexts.
Chapter 1 examines several recent surveys to determine the quantitative scope of anti-American sentiment, especially since September 11, with a focus on Germany. Chapter 2 describes how anti-Americanism goes beyond rational debates over policy—a critic of this or that American policy is hardly necessarily an anti-American—and takes on an obsessive character. Chapter 3 examines the shape of anti-Americanism in the debates over the Iraq war. Chapter 4 explores another aspect of anti-Americanism: a reluctance to criticize bad regimes for fear of siding with the United States. The fifth and final chapter looks at another variation of anti-Americanism: the movement against globalization.
With anti-Americanism on the rise this timely book contributes to understanding an important ideological challenge.
Berman, the Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University, is a senior fellow, by courtesy, at the Hoover Institution.
Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem.
by Russell A. Berman
ISBN: 0-8179-4512-1 $15.00 paperback
158 pages March 2004
