(Geez, I hate doing that!)

I'm currently reading a book "The Eagles Shadow - Why America Fascinates And Infuriates The World" by Mark Hertsgaard (Allen and Unwin).

The back cover reads:

"Americans rarely used to think about the outside world. As the mightiest nation in history, the United States could do as it pleased. Now Americans have learned the hard way that what outsiders think matters.

When terror struck on September 11, author Mark Hertsgaard was completing a trip around the world, gathering perceptions about America from people in fifteen countries. Whether sophisticated business leaders, starry-eyed teenagers or Islamic fundamentalists,his subjects felt both admiring and uneasy about the United States, enchanted yet bewildered, appalled yet envious. On September 10, the rest of the world harboured plenty of opinions about America - opinions that have only increased in focus and urgency
in light of recent events.

This complex catalogue of impressions - good, bad, but never indifferent - is the departure point for an honest self-examination. How can the world's most open society be so proud of its founding ideals yet so inconsistent in applying them? Exploring such paradoxes, Hertsgaard exposes uplifting and uncomfortable truths that force natives and outsiders alike to see America with fresh eyes.

'Like it or not, America is the future', a European tells Hertsgaard. In a world growing more American by the day, if ever there was a time when Americans and non-Americans alike need such perspectives, it is now"

A fascinating read.

Allan