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  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Rethinking Anti-Americanism
  • Cited by 20
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
November 2012
Print publication year:
2012
Online ISBN:
9781139029421
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139029421
Subjects:
Area Studies, American History after 1945, American Studies, History
Information

Book description

'Anti-Americanism' is an unusual expression; although stereotypes and hostility exist toward every nation, we do not hear of 'anti-Italianism' or 'anti-Brazilianism'. Only Americans have elevated such sentiment to the level of a world view, an explanatory factor so significant as to merit a name - an 'ism' - usually reserved for comprehensive ideological systems or ingrained prejudice. This book challenges the scholarly consensus that blames criticism of the United States on foreigners' irrational resistance to democracy and modernity. Tracing 200 years of the concept of anti-Americanism, this book argues that it has constricted political discourse about social reform and US foreign policy, from the War of 1812 and the Mexican War to the Cold War, from Guatemala and Vietnam to Iraq. Research in nine countries in five languages, with attention to diplomacy, culture, migration and the circulation of ideas, shows that the myth of anti-Americanism has often damaged the national interest.

Reviews

'Max Paul Friedman has crafted here a highly original, and excellent, investigation of anti-Americanism cast in a brand new light … This remarkable book, fluidly written and very enjoyable to read, is based on thorough historical research in United States, Latin American, and Western European archives.'

Sophie Meunier Source: Political Science Quarterly

'Max Paul Friedman’s study traces how the term [anti-Americanism] has been used historically and suggests the discursive power it has come to have in specific times and places. In pursuing this goal, it also plumbs the diverse meanings of ‘America’ itself. This book could be considered a transnational intellectual history - a very difficult genre because of the need to chart the multiplicity of connotations and contexts over time and place … This smart and significant book not only demonstrates the importance of methodological innovation and transnational research but offers valuable insights about US policymaking - both past and future.'

Emily S. Rosenberg Source: Journal of American Studies

'[Friedman] has produced an outstanding piece of work that no scholar of ‘anti-Americanism’ will be able to ignore; original and thought provoking, this is a revisionist study in the best meaning of the term.'

Egbert Klautke Source: Journal of Contemporary History

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