Anti-Americanism

by Jean-François Revel

Revel probes the origins of the notion that America is the source of all evil: imperialistic, greedy, ruthlessly competitive--a hyperpower whose riches are acquired at the expense of the Third World.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, France, Philosophy, Political Science, American

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jean-François Revel was a French politician, journalist, author, prolific philosopher and member of the Académie française since June 1998.

He was best known for his books Without Marx or Jesus: The New American Revolution Has Begun, The Flight from Truth : The Reign of Deceit in the Age of Information and his 2002 book Anti-Americanism, one year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In the latter book, Revel criticised those Europeans who argued that the United States had brought about the terrorist attacks upon itself through misguided foreign policies. He wrote thus: "Obsessed by their hatred and floundering in illogicality, these dupes forget that the United States, acting in her own self-interest, is also acting in the interest of us Europeans and in the interests of many other countries, threatened, or already subverted and ruined, by terrorism." In 1975 he delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, The Netherlands, under the title: La tentation totalitaire (The Totalitarian Temptation).

Reviews

[Sam Dembling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ravel uses two main approaches in his argument against Anti-Americanism. 1) Anecdote-based generalizations. He frequently uses examples of the behavior of one or two individuals to make generalizations about the entire group of which they are a part. From this logic, the majority of Muslims are not moderate (pp. 68-69); and most Japanese and Brazilians are guilty of hypocrisy, (pp. 81) and (pp. 174) respectively. 2) Comparing/contrasting U.S. policy with that of other countries without evaluating the strength of the policy itself. Ravel may concede, for example, that Disney has "deform[ed] and commercialize[d]" (pp. 116) ancient cultural legends, but that's nothing compared to what France has done in the past! While he admits that George W. Bush's "axis of evil" rhetoric is over the top, he hastens to check that acknowledgement with the following qualification: "but may the statesmen who has never been guilty of hyperbole throw the first stone!" (pp. 122) Do not read this book if you are searching for thorough, fact-based analysis.

[Kxv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un formidable puñetazo al insoportable antiamericanismo que destila Europa, a los mitos, las falsedades, las mentiras, los prejuicios. Revel en estado puro, un polemista sin parangón que desmonta una por una todas las estupideces que se dicen sobre EE.UU. y sus ciudadanos: los presidentes paletos, los incultos yanquis, amantes de las armas, la Biblia, el dólar, lo material, el capitalismo al cubo... Al final no queda más remedio que convenir, con el autor, que toda la mala baba que destilamos contra EE.UU. es sólo causa de la envidia y la mala fe, de nuestro afán por vivir desinformados, ideologizados, dogmatizados y ver la paja en ojo ajeno cuando no nos enteramos de que tenemos una viga en el nuestro... En fin, una gran oportunidad de refrendar lo que ya deberíamos saber: que EE.UU. es un país modélico en muchos sentidos cuyo liderazgo sólo puede venirnos bien. Lectura fácil, rápidita y clarificadora. No hay excusas.

[Owlseyes]

"Mr Roger traces it to the second half of the 18th century, when a circle of naturalists linked to the Enlightenment thinkers—French botanists, zoologists and anthropologists—returned from the new world with little but scorn. The species were small. The people were backward. The land was marshy. One of them, Cornelius de Pauw, wrote a chapter entitled “On the Americans' Moronic Spirit” and judged them “deprived of both intelligence and perfectibility”. Voltaire wondered if one should not “marvel that there are flies in America”."

in: Anti-Americanism in France
Mutual contempt
in: http://www.economist.com/node/3860580...

"To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland.
"I call on them, come and work here with us, to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment".
E. Macron

"Especially American "botanists, zoologists and anthropologists" shall be welcome in France, to improve its "climate and environment""
Owlseyes

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book to any of my friends. I believe in our Country, and want our actions to be mostly right if not always right, and had hoped that I'd read good discussions with real detail in support of that. As the author suggests, any Nation which is always right is as mythical as one which is always wrong. Yet I found this pro-American Frenchman seemed to introduce a variety of expressions of anti-americanism from around the world, many of which I'd never heard before, and try to say how our Country is always right. I'd like that to be true, but the basis wasn't clearly explained, at least not to me. It's not enough to say, well, the French did that too in the 19th Century, to be proof that the current complaint isn't a valid one. I just didn't find the arguments compelling, either for or against, and it sounded like something ghost written by the Presidential press spokesperson during an election year campaign stop.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really expected a book in which a Frenchman rails against the anti-Americanism of Europeans to be entertaining. Alas, it was not. A slow read, stating the obvious: Americans are a diverse lot of people, and they usually don't fit the European stereotypes of them. America is a good country, as far as countries go, and a pretty swell place to live. It's not perfect, but, on average, it's far more a force for good than a force for evil in the world, and it hardly deserves to be so commonly reviled.

[Susana González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro esencial para entender el antiamericanismo y cómo se han ido originando todas todas las mentiras, mitos y prejuicios.

Rebate todas las leyendas y despropósitos que oímos diariamente sobre USA y los estadounidenses: paletos sin cultura, consumistas, religiosos ortodoxos, violentos... Nos demuestra que todas estas falacias han sido creadas por el resto de gobiernos que, para tapar sus errores, no dudan en endosárselos a los americanos que son los que les sacan siempre las castañas del fuego. Y nos enseña cómo los medios de comunicación, con información sesgada, influyen en los ciudadanos que no quieren saber realmente la verdad, prefieren vivir en un mundo feliz, sin información veraz, adoctrinados, y creer que la culpa es del vecino en vez de suya (porque ellos son los que votan a esos políticos que les mienten).

Se les critica hagan lo que hagan: si si se inmiscuyen en los problemas de un país para derrocar a un dictador genocida, son malos; pero si deciden dejar de inmiscuirse, también son malos.

El mayor logro del autor es que para que nos demos cuenta de todo ésto no necesita retratar USA como un país perfecto, sino que nos enseña claramente sus luces y sus sombras porque, como todos los países, tiene de ambas, no sólo la oscuridad que nos quieren hacer creer.

Al igual que el autor, yo también creía en todas esas fábulas, hasta que pasé una temporada estudiando allí. Cada día me asombraba más de que fueran tan parecidos a nosotros, pero más nobles, inocentes y hospitalarios; en absoluto autoindulgentes, chauvinistas, retorcidos, cerrados y xenófobos como los europeos. Y cada vez que he vuelto me he convencido más.

El autor se centra, sobre todo, en el antiamericanismo francés, pero por el resto de países europeos que conozco, se puede extrapolar perfectamente, así como a los países africanos y los latinoamericanos (mucho más feroces en sus críticas, pese a todo lo que deben a USA).

No le doy 5 puntos porque el estilo narrativo es muy periodístico y se hace duro leer a veces.

[Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is essential reading this book to understand the global incoherent arguments against the U.S.

[Madame de Bargeton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los críticos más moderados reconocían vagamente que América había sido atacada, pero sostenían que el riesgo supremo era el de causar víctimas civiles en Afganistán. Peor aún: el de provocar una “catástrofe en materia humanitaria”. Cierto es que ese riesgo era –trágicamente– demasiado real. Resultaba más que evidente que había que hacer todo lo posible para dispensar a las población de las consecuencias y socorrer a los refugiados. Pero hacía falta una importante dosis de “unilateralismo” para imputar la responsabilidad de aquella situación a América exclusivamente. La desgraciada población afgana sufría desde hacía más de veinte años los efectos de los crímenes cometidos primero por el Ejército Rojo y después por los fanáticos talibanes. Desde 1980 hordas de afganos hambrientos no habían cesado de huir de su país para buscar refugio allende una u otra de sus fronteras, pero para muchos los horrores no comenzaron hasta 2001, por culpa de los americanos, cuando éstos lanzaron una operación contra los talibanes y los terroristas. La conclusión que se debía sacar de aquellas consideraciones era muy clara. Según los bienpensantes occidentales, los Estados Unidos son la única nación que no tiene derecho a defenderse, cuando un enemigo agrede.

---

La idea de que una cultura preserva su originalidad atrincherándose contra las influencias extranjeras es una antigua ilusión falsa que siempre ha dado un resultado contrario al que se buscaba. No se puede ser diferente a solas. La libre circulación de las obras y los talentos es lo que permite a cada cultura perpetuarse al tiempo que se renueva. El aislamiento sólo engendra esterilidad. La demostración se remonta al antiguo paralelismo entre Esparta y Atenas. Esta última, ciudad abierta, fue el lugar prolífico de la creación en las letras y las artes, en la filosofía y las matemáticas, las ciencia política y la historia. Esparta, al defender celosamente su “excepción”, realizó la hazaña de ser la única ciudad griega que no produjo un solo poeta, orador, pensador ni arquitecto. No dejó de conseguir su diversidad, pero fue la de la nada. Volvemos a ver esa extinción cultural en los regímenes totalitarios modernos. El miedo a la contaminación ideológica movió a los nazis, soviéticos y maoístas a parapetarse en un arte ramplón y en una literatura pomposa, auténticas injurias al pasado de los tres pueblos a los que fueron infligidas.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read with lots of good examples (some of them gives rise to a feeling of horror, at lest it did for me) of the irrational anti-American sentiments we find so widespread in Europe, perhaps especially in France. The so-called 'ordinary' people in Europa (perhaps we can call them "the grassroots") might have a far better view of America than those that we find among the so-called "intellectual elite", and among journalists, and partly among politicians. It should also be read as a warning too, I think. After all, why should Americans take all this dirty critique? Because it is obvious that most of this not in any way meant as "positive critique and advise" - easily demonstrated by the typical "damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't attitude against our most important ally; United States of America. How many would prefer China instead, a question that today is far more important than in 2003, the year of the English edition of the book.

[Mandi Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

He Likes Us, He Really, Really Likes Us!
Written by Mandi S. Chestler on November 15th, 2008
Book Rating: 5/5
Finally, a book that explains exactly why America always gets dumped on by the rest of the world. How ironic that a French intellectual actually comes to our rescue and demonstrates just how utterly hypocritical and ludicrous the barrage of criticism is from the European Elite and the Far Left! Thank you, Jean-Francois Revel. You can visit the USA any time you like!

[Eduardo Fort · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean-François Revel (1924-2006) es una de las figuras más luminosas del siglo XX liberal. En esta, una de sus obras más esclarecedoras y secuela inevitable de "Ni Marx ni Jesús" (1970), Revel desmonta todos y cada uno de los mitos (normalmente, promovidos desde la izquierda política) relacionados con Estados Unidos de América.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dry, and seems almost like an outline or precursor to another work. Yet, I can't find much wrong with his analysis of global ideology - which is just now gaining traction a decade and a half later. This book was certainly ahead of its time.

[Enzo Nicolini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Provocador, y necesario, pero justificado con generalizaciones demasiado gruesas. Decepcionante.

[Memistoker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Los viejos blancos franceses son tan narcisistas como los americanos y por eso se aman mutuamente y justifican sus atrocidades.
Tuve que mirar 5 veces la fecha de edicion del libro.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este livro fez-me relembrar que o Presidente Macron bem há pouco tempo sugeriu a construção de um exercito europeu para a Europa se defender da Russia, da China e ... dos ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMÉRICA.
O presidente da nação que foi salva 2 vezes pelos EUA quer defender-se dos seus salvadores!
Mas isto já vem na linha de anteriores presidentes franceses.
O presidente de Gaulle nunca participou nas comemorações do dia D em Pointe du Hoc na Normandia. O presidente Francês era insensível ao facto que o seu pais foi libertado com um numero de mortes de jovens americanos avassaladoramente superior ao numero de mortes de franceses !
Esta situação manteve-se até 1984.
É muito triste ver ainda hoje Ronald Regan a discursar na Normandia frente aos veteranos sem a presença dos mais altos responsáveis franceses. Eu diria mesmo que é vergonhoso (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTLVI...).
É muito triste! O que pensariam os pais e mães cujos filhos com idades entre os 18 e vinte e poucos anos deram a própria vida para libertar a França ?

O mau agradecimento não tem limite.

Algumas notas s/ o livro:

Pisasso é classificado como lacaio moral ao Pintar o Massacre da Coreia sem reconhecer que o ataque foi feito pela Coreia do Sul.

Guerra Bacteriologica Americana - Coreia : Wilfred Burdet

Primatas ululantes deserdados do maoismo.

Alger Hiss
Joseph Lash

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so interesting to hear a defense of the US from someone who's not in camp 'Merica. I also learned a lot about France.
This has nothing to do with the book: I had serious insomnia the past few weeks, so I read this over the course of a few nights at 3 to 5 in the morning. Then I read it a second time, also at night, because I don't always retain much at that time of day. I might not have retained much the second time either.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazon Review:

In 1972, Revel shocked the world with his best-selling book, Without Marx or Jesus, in which he defended America against global denunciation. Thirty years later, Revel is back with the same purpose. His latest book, a bestseller in France, comes at a crucial time. It seeks to explain the root cause of the world's and particularly Europe's obsession with hating America. He does not pretend that America is perfect. But he argues that the daily denunciations exceed the bounds of reasonable criticism. Furthermore, Revel says, European critics are quick to point fingers when they should be looking in the mirror. Rather than mock America's 2000 presidential election, he notes, Europeans should have been examining their own abysmally run European Union. He attributes such inconsistencies to Europeans' desperate desire to "project our faults onto America so as to absolve ourselves." Revel further finds fault with the antiglobalization movement. Though the movement claims to oppose inequality and poverty in underdeveloped countries, its true anathema is liberal capitalism, whose chief representative is the United States. The barrage of attacks will make it impossible for the United States to confer with European officials or take any criticism seriously. It is in Europe's interest, Revel says, to put aside its envy and consider a more constructive relationship with the United States. As a French citizen, the author laments the sorry state of his home country; he believes that careful consideration of American principles will strengthen Europe. Revel writes with a style at once informative and incisive. He possesses a sarcastic wit that is undoubtedly as irritating to his critics as it is endearing to his supporters.

[The American Conservative]

'One whoops with delight to find, in the excellent Jean-François Revel, a Frenchman with the sense, understanding, and knowledge to defy Left Bank modishness and defend America with spirit against its dimwit foes. Many parts of this book are good for heart and soul alike, being brisk, merciless refutations of Euro-smugness about Kyoto, the death penalty, racialism, inequality, and the rest of the false claims of the new Europe to be morally and politically superior to the nation on the far side of the Atlantic. There is much here that is exhilarating, crackling with perceptiveness and bitter humor. He has grasped the need of Europe’s failed elites to blame America for the miseries they have brought upon themselves, their need to feel superior to a culture that has in so many ways humiliated them by its success and then made matters even worse with its generosity. He correctly identifies “an anti-American psychopathology, which routinely seeks to transform the United States into a scapegoat burdened with all the sins of the world.”'

Read the full review, "Uncritical Champion," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Ryne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book back in high school, for a debate assignment. This book helped me to understand better how globalism affects the world economy, and why America gets such a bad rap for it. I think that Revel was biased just a little on the side of America--he's perhaps a little too apologetic--but overall I recall this as being a fair and balanced investigation into why some people in other countries hate America so much.

One note: I think this book left out some historical factors that would have been useful to include, as well, as explanations of hatred toward the USA (CIA-backed coups in Central and South America, anyone? In those cases the US deserves the grief it gets).

If you want an analysis of anti-American sentiment that focuses largely on economic factors, this is a good source.

[John Wiswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anti-Americanism is an excuse for people in other countries to ignore the evils their governments commit, a slightly more intellectual diversion than going to a blockbuster movie. This book makes the commonly overlooked case that any rich-world nation has a ridiculous amount of hipocrisy to its constitutition, focusing particularly on France's hipocritical behavior. The United States of America has done some terrible things since 9/11, but focusing hatred on them blinds people from improvement - usually, it just enables more of the same nationalistic selfish behavior that led so many European nations to abuse the Middle East and poor-world nations. This book doesn't excuse the U.S.A.'s actions, but correctly demands countries examine themselves with the same critical light.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book. The title is rather misleading since it is more about why others are Anti-American when they clearly should not be. He makes a very logical argument to support his ideas and gives many demonstrations as to why he is correct. The only reason why he got 4 starts instead of 5 is that he used big words and mixed in lots of French words is his writing. It made it rather difficult to read sometimes. There were also a few parts where he started referencing complicated functions of the US government with little explanation, as if we are all as politically savvy as he is. Still, even with these shortcomings it is a very good book.

[Juan Pablo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revel hace un análisis completo del "antiamericanismo", llamando la atención sobre la hipocresía de los políticos europeos que critican a Estados Unidos, y la desinformación imperante en los medios de comunicación al hacer referencia a EEUU (lo que lógicamente se ve solucionado con innumerables prejuicios).
Yo diría que este libro le va a gustar a cualquiera que quiera apartarse un poco de los lugares comunes de los propagandistas, y a analizar más friamente al país norteamericano, sin idealizarlo pero tampoco sumándose a una condena sin fundamentos.

[John Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weak book. Although, I was interested to read that the European Right also hates America. He says the European elites ignore facts about life in America even though they are easy to obtain. They take incoherent positions, condemning America for its interventionism and then for its isolationism. He says that this hatred is typical for societies suffering from chronic failure. Environmentalism is fundamentally Marxist and anti-Western at its core. The only globalization they like is the statist, planned style.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readability 7. Rating 7. Finally – a Frenchman I like! Revel pretty much goes off on France and Europe for their Anti-Americanism, which manifests as anti-democratic, anti-liberal, anti-globalization. He also highlights the internal inconsistencies that should be embarrassing to any sound thinker. In many places, I stopped and just thought to myself “that is exactly how I see it” but I had never been able to make clear to myself. Wonderful.

[Bruno Fraga · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is great , the subject is definetly pretty interesting and Revel's arguments are mostly undeniable, but, the book focus too much on France and French p.o.v the scope could be larger and there are so many issues that he could have written about this subject... Anyway the book is a must-read for talking about something which happens all the time around us (non americans) , but we usually don't realize.

[Marcio Atz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorei o livro! perspicaz análise do espírito anti americano hipócrita que impregna a cultura européia, latino-americana e africana. A velha cultura de transferência de culpa e permanente justificação que. Um olhar crítico, revelador e que de fato deveria ser lido com mais frequência por jovens revolucionários sem causa e velhos que perderam sua bússola, ou nunca a encontraram...

[Jenno]

Don't let the cover fool you, this book is actually the opposite of what you would think. It's pro-American, it seeks out why others in the world are anti-American, and why many of them have no ground for such views. (And it was written by a Frenchman!)

[Aaron Schulze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really is a fun read. It is fascinating to see how the French elite and media see/portray American society, politics and foreign policy.

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

very biased.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative.