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The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World
On September 11, 2001, 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 were both admiring and uneasy about the United States, enchanted yet bewildered, appalled yet envious. Exploring such paradoxes, Hertsgaard exposes truths that force natives and outsiders alike to see America with fresh eyes. In a world growing more American by the day, The Eagle's Shadow is a major statement about and to the place everyone discusses but few understand.
259 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
6 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Mark Hertsgaard
16 books22 followersMark Hertsgaard is an American journalist and the co-founder and executive director of Covering Climate Now. He is the environment correspondent for The Nation, and the author of seven non-fiction books, including Earth Odyssey (1998) and Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth (2011).
He has covered climate change, politics, economics, the press, and music since 1989. His best-known work as an author is On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency (1988), which described the way the Reagan White House "deployed raw power and conventional wisdom to intimidate Washington's television newsrooms." He has also written for magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Scientific American,Time, Harper's, and Le Monde. He has been a commentator for the public radio programs Morning Edition, Marketplace, and Living on Earth, and taught writing at Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Berkeley. Hertsgaard lives in San Francisco.
He has covered climate change, politics, economics, the press, and music since 1989. His best-known work as an author is On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency (1988), which described the way the Reagan White House "deployed raw power and conventional wisdom to intimidate Washington's television newsrooms." He has also written for magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Scientific American,Time, Harper's, and Le Monde. He has been a commentator for the public radio programs Morning Edition, Marketplace, and Living on Earth, and taught writing at Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Berkeley. Hertsgaard lives in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 28, 2010
This book was required reading for me in a colloquium entitled "America's Role in the World." The course explored not only the idea of globalization but also the ways in which the United States is perceived versus how we, as American citizens, believe or want it to be viewed, making this an excellent choice of text.
Hertsgaard approaches the topic as unbiasedly as I think he can as an American himself. His visits with individuals from around the world provide interesting and sometimes eye-opening ideas and it's easy to get the sense that he was learning just as much as the reader through his conversations. The cultural comparisons as well as the discussions of specific actions and policy choices are indeed enlightening as is the way in which many of the interviewees make a stark differentiation between their views of America and AmericaNs.
While I think this book might be difficult for some people, as we often let our ethnocentrism get in the way of considering outside perspectives, it is indeed a very different one. While the description of the book does reference September 11, 2001, it's not the focus of the book itself or of the conversations, necessarily, that Hertsgaard relates in the text.
Hertsgaard approaches the topic as unbiasedly as I think he can as an American himself. His visits with individuals from around the world provide interesting and sometimes eye-opening ideas and it's easy to get the sense that he was learning just as much as the reader through his conversations. The cultural comparisons as well as the discussions of specific actions and policy choices are indeed enlightening as is the way in which many of the interviewees make a stark differentiation between their views of America and AmericaNs.
While I think this book might be difficult for some people, as we often let our ethnocentrism get in the way of considering outside perspectives, it is indeed a very different one. While the description of the book does reference September 11, 2001, it's not the focus of the book itself or of the conversations, necessarily, that Hertsgaard relates in the text.
December 28, 2017
This book came out as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It could just have well been written today, with some names and events added, as the issue of American "innocence" (my country, Australia, has its own version of public myth as denial) and bewilderment as to why others may not like them, or at least the actions of their government, a;though it's more than that.
Hertsgaard succinctly and appropriately asks "why America fascinates and infuriates the world," but first tentatively broaches the topic with his fellow citizens, really sounding like he's walking on eggshells. He introduces the usual topics of citizen disinterest in places outside the United States, whether to find out about or visit, the precarious nature of what passes for democracy in the US, focusing on the Presidential election of 2000, as well as attempts (successful) to restrict the franchise and exclude minorities and so on.
An interesting aspect of this book is the consistent use of the term "empire" which the author describes as a word Americans reject about themselves and their society, notwithstanding evidence to the contrary over centuries, particularly more recently in the cultural and financial spheres. Actually you can see the word on a monument in the middle of San Francisco dating from the middle of the 19th century.
Hertsgaard also criticises the media for not being investigative enough, for accepting what is put out by those in power without more than cursory examination. He points out the falsity of the notion of a "liberal" media, and is the first person I've read to state the obvious regarding the Democrat and Republican parties – that they are both right-wing entities – and so differ from Europe where there are genuine left-wing parties. An examination of the Clinton administration's policies is depicted as Republican-lite, more or less. As an aside, Australian politics is hardly divided between left and right regarding the two major parties, but it's less extreme, for the moment anyway, than what you see in the US.
The author provides the usual explanation for the American political party experience. I wonder too, whether the office of President contributes to this lack of differentiation, in that a report on a recent poll about admired people in the US noted that usually Presidents scored highly. This isn't something you would see in other cultures, mine anyway.
I should admit a bias here in that I grew up in a culture that was partly appreciative but mostly skeptical about Americans, the ambivalence partly coming from World War II social experiences, from what I could work out, anyway, as that was my parents' generation. There was also a large amount of literature (books) in my latter high school years that examined the post-war period, with various interventions, coups etc. in which the US was involved. The now-right-wing David Horowitz' "From Yalta to Vietnam" was one of those texts. Society was quite divided at that time about attitudes to America, and it's worth noting that the Australian government participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq without the support of a large majority of its citizens
So what is presented here wasn't news to me, even the more recent events, excellently described by the author recounting his travels. This issue probably started with the Monroe Doctrine, in a way.
The book is well-written, and points out several complexities in politics and life, where you can like and dislkie something at the same time and for different reasons, and, once again, where democracy depends on education, in this case, about your nation, and other nations.
Hertsgaard succinctly and appropriately asks "why America fascinates and infuriates the world," but first tentatively broaches the topic with his fellow citizens, really sounding like he's walking on eggshells. He introduces the usual topics of citizen disinterest in places outside the United States, whether to find out about or visit, the precarious nature of what passes for democracy in the US, focusing on the Presidential election of 2000, as well as attempts (successful) to restrict the franchise and exclude minorities and so on.
An interesting aspect of this book is the consistent use of the term "empire" which the author describes as a word Americans reject about themselves and their society, notwithstanding evidence to the contrary over centuries, particularly more recently in the cultural and financial spheres. Actually you can see the word on a monument in the middle of San Francisco dating from the middle of the 19th century.
Hertsgaard also criticises the media for not being investigative enough, for accepting what is put out by those in power without more than cursory examination. He points out the falsity of the notion of a "liberal" media, and is the first person I've read to state the obvious regarding the Democrat and Republican parties – that they are both right-wing entities – and so differ from Europe where there are genuine left-wing parties. An examination of the Clinton administration's policies is depicted as Republican-lite, more or less. As an aside, Australian politics is hardly divided between left and right regarding the two major parties, but it's less extreme, for the moment anyway, than what you see in the US.
The author provides the usual explanation for the American political party experience. I wonder too, whether the office of President contributes to this lack of differentiation, in that a report on a recent poll about admired people in the US noted that usually Presidents scored highly. This isn't something you would see in other cultures, mine anyway.
I should admit a bias here in that I grew up in a culture that was partly appreciative but mostly skeptical about Americans, the ambivalence partly coming from World War II social experiences, from what I could work out, anyway, as that was my parents' generation. There was also a large amount of literature (books) in my latter high school years that examined the post-war period, with various interventions, coups etc. in which the US was involved. The now-right-wing David Horowitz' "From Yalta to Vietnam" was one of those texts. Society was quite divided at that time about attitudes to America, and it's worth noting that the Australian government participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq without the support of a large majority of its citizens
So what is presented here wasn't news to me, even the more recent events, excellently described by the author recounting his travels. This issue probably started with the Monroe Doctrine, in a way.
The book is well-written, and points out several complexities in politics and life, where you can like and dislkie something at the same time and for different reasons, and, once again, where democracy depends on education, in this case, about your nation, and other nations.
September 16, 2019
A dated, fairly one-sided critique of Americans painted in very broad strokes. This is probably heavily due to the feelings of particular Americans after the 2000 election and after. The book purports to focus on what fascinated and infuriates, but it is mostly a finger-wagging at Americans that rehashes old stereotypes of them. The author means well, but lacks nuance in his analysis.
May 9, 2017
Succinctly put, this book will provide an insight for readers to understand how Americans view themselves and others. Point to note as well, the author has a left wing tendency so expect more criticism than praises. Overall, a satisfactory piece of narration for a casual reader like me.
January 14, 2024
Fairly one-sided, and certainly out of date. Nonetheless a relatively interesting read.
The author has moments of self awareness about their one-sided views but overall the passages that lean too heavily into their personal feelings take away from the book
The author has moments of self awareness about their one-sided views but overall the passages that lean too heavily into their personal feelings take away from the book
Want to read
November 12, 2021COCC
June 28, 2014
The author does a good job in only 200 or so pages explaining his title. Though of course more detail in a book twice the size would've been better.
He doesn't pull his punches when writing about the 'stolen' US election of 2000: the clear flaws in the process that were documented at the time in newspapers around the world yet, it seems, barely in the US. The flaws that lead many world-wide to believe that the wrong man was in the White House, that the democratic system had been blatantly ridiculed and that the US had lost any right to take the moral high ground regarding elections in other countries.
He's on less solid ground when writing about the US versus the UN/the troubles in the Balkans in the 1990s. He misses or ignores the hand of the US government in the weakness of the response to the troubles: the UN underfunding due to the US government not paying $1.2 *billion* in dues, the reluctance of Clinton's administration to 'cross the Mogadishu line', the US's refusal to agree to the peace/break up of the area negotiated by Lord Owen et al.
An updated, more detailed version this book is needed. You could fill a further 200 pages dissecting 21st century US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq alone.
An involving, fast paced, informative read.
He doesn't pull his punches when writing about the 'stolen' US election of 2000: the clear flaws in the process that were documented at the time in newspapers around the world yet, it seems, barely in the US. The flaws that lead many world-wide to believe that the wrong man was in the White House, that the democratic system had been blatantly ridiculed and that the US had lost any right to take the moral high ground regarding elections in other countries.
He's on less solid ground when writing about the US versus the UN/the troubles in the Balkans in the 1990s. He misses or ignores the hand of the US government in the weakness of the response to the troubles: the UN underfunding due to the US government not paying $1.2 *billion* in dues, the reluctance of Clinton's administration to 'cross the Mogadishu line', the US's refusal to agree to the peace/break up of the area negotiated by Lord Owen et al.
An updated, more detailed version this book is needed. You could fill a further 200 pages dissecting 21st century US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq alone.
An involving, fast paced, informative read.
July 30, 2014
The title alone gave this book so much promise but proved to be evidence that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Hertsgaard spends roughly two pages each chapter detailing the perspectives of those he meets in his wordly travels and then proceeds to climb aboard a self-built soapbox aimed at disparaging American media, policy, and culture. If the folks he met in his travels were critical of America, I'd understand. This book, however, is nothing but a collection of personal gripes from an American author.
A more apt subtitle for this book would be "Why America Frustrates and Infuriates Mark Hertsgaard". I was looking forward to using this book to develop some educational content around the global perception of America, but I think a better use for the book is keeping dust off my bookshelf.
A more apt subtitle for this book would be "Why America Frustrates and Infuriates Mark Hertsgaard". I was looking forward to using this book to develop some educational content around the global perception of America, but I think a better use for the book is keeping dust off my bookshelf.
December 30, 2008
I liked this book because it was written in an engaging, almost conversational style, and it reiterated several of the issues I know to be troublesome in America, but had new nuggets of information in it, things that I was not aware of even though I consider myself informed about such issues as media consolidation and US foreign policy. The opinions expressed by foreigners were interesting to read about; it's great to have a perspective from outside ourselves.
It was kind of cool to read this right after "What's the Matter With Kansas" as several of the problems discussed in Frank's book are discussed again here; sometimes with different conclusions, but the fact that the same problems are brought up was interesting.
It was kind of cool to read this right after "What's the Matter With Kansas" as several of the problems discussed in Frank's book are discussed again here; sometimes with different conclusions, but the fact that the same problems are brought up was interesting.
May 20, 2009
This book defines some reasons why people in foreign countries both
admire America and despise it sometimes concurrently. Our foreign
policy is sometimes arrogant, cruel, and self serving, Our own civil
liberties are being threatened and corporate "globalization" is causing
a class division between the elite rich minority and the poor. We are
not using our democracy as was originally intended to effect change
and many of our leaders are entrenched bureaucrats elected and
controlled by legal bribary. Yet we are the land of opportunity and
the country where becoming rich is actually a possibility. Hertsgaard
basis his observations on his travels and conversations with foreigners.
admire America and despise it sometimes concurrently. Our foreign
policy is sometimes arrogant, cruel, and self serving, Our own civil
liberties are being threatened and corporate "globalization" is causing
a class division between the elite rich minority and the poor. We are
not using our democracy as was originally intended to effect change
and many of our leaders are entrenched bureaucrats elected and
controlled by legal bribary. Yet we are the land of opportunity and
the country where becoming rich is actually a possibility. Hertsgaard
basis his observations on his travels and conversations with foreigners.
March 31, 2015
This book was very interesting about how the World reacts to our Country, the United States after September 11, 2001. That author had travelled around the Globe and listened to the foreigners' perspective on the United States how they did like or didn't like it. Most foreigners love American pop culture but dislike its government, military and corporations. They knew that the US is most World's wealthiest and powerful nation around the Globe but it is being arrogant and bully towards other nations.
May 17, 2008
The reason I loved this book so much is that it's short and easy to read for the audience that can most benefit from it: Americans. The author takes into consideration the short attention span and lacking vocabulary of most Americans and weaves in little-known facts about the U.S. He gives a glimpse into what America looks like to the rest of the world - a view most Americans don't see, since less than 25% of them even own a passport. I recommend this book to everyone I know!
Read
June 21, 2007This book was written pre-9/11 but I read it in the months following the events while I was living overseas. It is a fascinating first hand account of how people around the world view Americans. Make sure to read it with an open mind and refrain from jumping on the defensive. It's extremely enlightening.
March 6, 2008
This book was written both before and after 9-11, so it starts out very diplomatic about the different views of America and Americans. It kind of rants at the end, about our inadequacies as a country, and the pain we were all feeling at the time - so it becomes unbalanced. Otherwise, a fascinating read.
November 28, 2007
I felt like this book was just a condensed reiteration of Earth Odyssey.
June 10, 2008
This book gives you something you don't always get in life--a glimpse at how the rest of the world perceives you. It makes you a better citizen to know the global perception of "America" and "Americans"
March 10, 2010
Of the many sloppy books that were hurried off to press in the months following 9-11 as Americans attempted to make sense of what had happened, this is probably not the worst. One would do well to pick up a copy of Chalmers Johnson's Blowback instead.
Read
February 8, 2008US: Jonathan Galassi
Read
January 12, 2009very biased as well
December 23, 2009
Very enlightening and easy to read. Should be required reading for all Americans as it dispels many myths presented by the American elite and media outlets.
January 21, 2011
I made it through about 1/3 of this and had enough. I would not recommend to any others.
April 15, 2010
Ouch.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews