The US: very rich and lots of guns
The Eagle’s Shadow – Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World
By Mark Hertsgaard. Allen & Unwin. 244pp. $22.95.
Reviewer: SGT Jon Garland

Strong opinions about the US.

The author began researching this book before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

The concept rose from conversations with people from around the world on his travels as a journalist and author, in which it became apparent that everybody had an opinion about the US.

The attacks didn’t change opinion, he says, they only intensified it. These opinions vary from good to bad but can be summed up in the phrase, “A place that is very rich and shoots a lot of guns.”

The research is extensive, in 15 countries from South Africa to China and with a range of people including bus drivers, social workers, parliamentarians and journalists.

It seems pitched at Americans, highlighting some of their cultural blind spots and pointing out some inconsistencies in what they expect from other nations as opposed to what they are willing to give. Very “do as I say, not as I do” in places.

Most of the book is opinion, though I learned some things I didn’t know about the United States.

As the author found to be the case with world opinion after September 11, 2001, my opinions have not been changed, only confirmed.

If you want to learn some more about US policy, internal and external, and compare your opinion to that of people around the world, this is the book for you.