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Anonymous
Posted February 6, 2006
World¿s Goliath to Be Distrusted, Disliked, and Feared?
Clyde Prestowitz is relentless in identifying and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. as the rest of the world perceives them. Prestowitz shows with much conviction that some Americans are not conscious enough of the gap that exists between how they see themselves and how they are perceived abroad. Nonetheless, most Americans already know that the U.S. is ultimately held to higher standards than the other countries because of its ambition to lead and inspire the world. The U.S. has been the key driver in exporting free trade, democracy, and peace, the ideas that have conquered the world following the collapse of the British Empire. The world is definitely better off thanks to what the U.S. has achieved since the 1940s. Being mighty, however, does not necessarily mean being right. Furthermore, being right is sometimes perceived as less important than the way it is conveyed. However, there is hope for starting to bridge this reality gap. Michael Mandelbaum convincingly demonstrates in The Case for Goliath that no other country than the U.S. has the ability and willingness to offer the world the governance it badly needs. The U.S. needs to better advertise and sell the global services that it provides to the community of sovereign states. These global services are most often underappreciated and taken for granted due to a lack of visibility.
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Anonymous
Posted August 25, 2005
Decent Critique of US Policy
This book starts out as you would expect from the title - it's full of complaints about the current policies of the United States complete with hind-sight. Some of the stories, like one about farming subsidies and Africa make you want to gag. Where the book really shines is its ability to get into the heads of the peoples of different countries. Prestowitz does a good job of providing an outlook of America through the eyes of the Chinese, the Europeans and other nationalities. If you can read it with objectivity it is a good read. If you want a yes book for your current agenda, you might find problems.
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