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Book: The Eagle's Shadow - Why America Fascinates And Infuriates The World
Written by Mark Hertsgaard (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
The Eagle's Shadow is a illuminating look at America from the viewpoint of people in other countries, a kind of out-of-the-body-politic experience if you will.
Mart Hertsgaard, author of On Bended Knee (the story of the media's kowtowing to the Reagan Administration) began this book well before the events of 9-11 and was able to take his theme to a much deeper level because of it. He traveled around the world seeking out the opinion of average people in different countries such as China, Egypt, England, South Africa and Brazil.
All this could have been a cold intellectual analysis on Hertgaard's part, but he was able to keep the book very readable and it's all the more fascinating at this human level. He sips tea in 105 degree heat with a businessman in Cairo to hear that America does stand for "Democracy and Freedom," yet that he doesn't like America's stance on Israel. A cabbie in London tells him how he dislikes Texans because whatever the London landmark, they always claim to have something bigger. He finds candles for American dead in a Prague square after 9-11. A man in China wants to know if in America he could have sex with someone other than his wife. You learn over and over that America's unique strengths appeal to people everywhere, but our arrogance and the fact that we are so focused on creature comforts prevents us from seeing how our habits affect the rest of the world.
Later in the book Hertsgaard talks about other reasons for America's schizophrenia, including a section on the legacy of Ronald Reagan, "the most important President of the last thirty years." The rich-centered policies of the current administration are all classic Reagan, and even Clinton's policies traveled mostly the same roads as if it is our birthright to consume as much of the world's resources as we please and the consequences be damned. All in all this book will help open your eyes to how much we need to change from being a spoiled brat among nations.
© 2003 - Rusty Pipes