Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new here.
Review: Thank God I didn't buy this book, but sat and read part of it (enough of it) in the bookstore. Why am I not surprised this guy is from San Francisco? Typical left wing, hate America, blame-America-first garbage. Waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new here.
Review: Thank God I didn't buy this book, but sat and read part of it (enough of it) in the bookstore. Why am I not surprised this guy is from Berkely? Typical left wing, hate America, blame-America-first garbage. Waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Missed The Mark
Review: As a frequent world traveller, I was looking forward to reading about how the world sees the US and more one-on-one personal accounts. What I read were the opinions of fewer than 10 individuals around the world and a long tirade against Ronald Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. There was some criticism of Bill Clinton as well but all-in-all the book is a worn litany of what is wrong with a conservative America and why we need a more liberal choice in America than the Democrats or Republicans. It seems the reason the world hates us is that we're conservative and not like the rest of the world. If we were just more liberal the world would like us better. Having said that, Mr. Hertsgaard's thesis isn't as simple as I've portrayed, and I do agree with him on many points. However I would have preferred a book at really examines the attitudes that the world has to the US and the attitudes that the US has towards the world instead of a book that sounds like a tirade against Republicans since the 1980s.
Rating:
Summary: Left-wing screed
Review: I had high hopes, but this book was ultimately disappointing. Instead of facts and analysis, it contains anecdotal evidence and liberal emotion. ... According to this author, all the problems the world has with America seem to relate to America's refusal to slide down into socialism and let the enviromental whackos dictate all policy. What a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost There but Must Try Harder
Review: I was keen to read this book after just seeing a couple of pages. However, the author perhaps plays his hand a little too hard. I have some trouble believing that freer trade is not to the benefit of poorer nations. Economics 101 would tell you otherwise but for some reason this point does not sink in with some writers. They seem to believe that regulated trade can produce some sort of optimal outcome. Tell that to the consumers of the Soviet Union. Yet while I am not in complete agreement with Herstgaard's economics, I am compelled to agree with his interpretation of how Americans view the wider world. In this regard, I spent two years living in the United States as well as having two childen presently at school there. I therefore think I have some perspective on the matter. Accordingly, American's are simply ignorant of the wider world. Indeed, more so than any other comparable country. Overall, Herstagaard is on the right track if only he would leave economics to the real world rather than thinking that a benign bureaucracy can produce a better world.
Rating: 
Summary: A nation in need of therapy.
Review: As a psychotherapist and author who emphasizes the importance of facing fear head on and fully accepting responsibility for ourselves, I was glad to discover The Eagle's Shadow. The relationship dynamics that I work with every day in my therapy practice are no different than the relationship dynamics between nations on a global scale, and Mr. Hertsgaard's book makes a significant contribution toward our better understanding this. Narcissism and arrogance are problematic character traits with tremendous destructive potential in personal relationships, and the stakes are far bigger globally. As a nation we need to listen to Mr. Hertsgaard and other brave, patriotic men and women who are speaking out to help us with a much needed reality check. It is said that recognizing a problem is half the battle won. In group therapy, individuals often recognize a problem with the help of respectful and constructive feedback from other participants in the group. The Eagle's Shadow offers this nation that kind of feedback. I suggest that we listen with our minds as open as we can get them. -Thom Rutledge, author of Embracing Fear (HarperSanFrancisco)
Rating:
Summary: Thanks, Mark.
Review: As a US citizen who has for the past decade or so spent half of each year living in Denmark, I am grateful to Mark Hertsgaard for this guide to our national myopia. Without failing to mention the many positive aspects of the American experiment, Hertsgaard shows the reader what many throughout the world are really thinking about us and our self-centered national policiies. Sharing the experiences of his wide ranging travels, the author brings a wealth of background knowledge to bear on several of our important problems, pulling no punches. This is a book that should be read by all Americans who would see our native land move closer to its ideals.
Rating: 
Summary: The title is STILL misleading...
Review: I wrote the "Great Idea, But Poorly Executed" review of this book some months ago. After recently reading over some of the criticisms of my review, I think many reviewers missed my point. I DON'T necessarily disagree with at least some of Mark Hertsgaard's opinions in "The Eagle's Shadow". At times Americans can be overly greedy and materialistic, we probably should be paying more attention to our environment, and compared to most of Europe, our political instincts are definitely more conservative and "right-wing". I don't agree with some of his other statements, but the point of my review was that the subtitle of Hertsgaard's book, "Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World" is inaccurate and misleading. Hertsgaard is essentially guilty of false advertising. I bought this book believing - as the cover title and introductory chapter indicates - that it is an account of how foreigners view the United States. What I got instead was a book with (at most) twenty quotes or comments from foreigners about the USA, and the remaining ninety percent of the book is all about Mark Hertsgaard's opinions of the USA. I'm all for learning about how Europeans, Africans, Asians and Latin Americans view our nation - but I don't really give a flip about what Mark Hertsgaard thinks - if I did, I'd have bought another book. As I wrote in my first review, Hertsgaard should have advertised this book for what it truly is - a platform for his personal (and, yes, generally left-wing) views of America. Maybe Hertsgaard thought that no one would buy a book about his personal views of what ails America - I know I wouldn't have. If your idea of learning about why many foreigners distrust and resent America is to study one guy's opinions on the subject, then by all means read "The Eagle's Shadow". As for myself, I'd rather hear the comments of, you know, actual foreigners. Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Biggoted, deceitfully socialistic, but many truths as well
Review: The best indicator of the author's bias comes on page 90 where he states that the left wing in America stands for anti-government, anti business and anti-establishment. Excluding only small business and non-multinational business (multinational businesses are laden with government contracts, corporate welfare, subsidies, tariffs, etc.), nothing could be more untrue. Conservatives favor a limitation of government and traditional values and views. True conservatives would like to free the markets from the horrible government intervention that has been present for decades. We do not have capitalism, but rather socialism or a mixed economy, at best. The drift of the DemoPublican party further and further to the left is no secret to true conservatives. The neocons of the Republican Party have drifted so far left; they do not even realize the extent of the socialism they have embraced. George Washington warned us of dabbling in the affairs of foreign nations. To the true conservative, foreign policy should be very limited and defense should be defense, not offense. Free markets have become non-existent in America. Their decline started before the War Between the States and has not looked back. Socialism, that dangerous left-wing fungus, is what left France undefendable in WWII, it also turned Germany toward policy of terror, and later- complete destruction. Socialism was the policy, under which many millions of Jewish people were horribly murdered. Let us not forget. National, international or local, socialism is a left-wing thing and it is not good. The press cannot change that, no matter how hard they try.
The author, when citing parts of American history that most do not know, conveniently leaves out travesties to civil and human rights. During the New York race riot, dozens of blacks were brutally murdered for nothing but the color of their skin. General U.S. Grant owned slaves throughout the War Between the States. Abraham Lincoln shut down presses, imprisoned dissenters without trial and even tried to imprison an Ohio Supreme Court Justice who disagreed with his Whig policies of tariffs, subsidies, censorship, taxation, centralized banking and socialism.
The author also cites third party information from a cab driver in England about someone from Texas who insists that everything is bigger there, and exhibits braggadocio about his home state. Believe me when I say that I have never heard this from any Texan and I have met more than a few.
The book contains a lot of good information and quite a number of truthful, astute observations. In itself, the book would have been great without the twists, jabs and easily identifiable, feeble attempt to manipulate readers into believing that the press is right-wing.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptive But Humorous Sleight of Hand
Review: Previous reviewers have correctly pointed out that this book does not provide a means for Americans to learn the opinions of (some) non-Americans about America. Rather, Mr. Hertsgaard has taken the opportunity to inform the reader as to his opinion of what he believes foreigners think of America, and more to the point, what he thinks of America and Americans. Thus, on that score, the book is deceptive.
Hertsgaard structures each chapter as follows: he begins each chapter with a comment from a foreigner about America, he then explores a central theme, placing particular emphasis on its relationship to US Foreign Policy and finally, he ends each chapter with a prescription for beneficial change. One can discern various themes throughout the book. First and foremost among these themes is the lamentably true fact that Americans know less about the world than the world knows about America. This insight has a number of disturbing implications, which Hertsgaard adequately demonstrates in the book.
Additionally, Hertsgaard helps to remind the reader of the crucial difference between Americans and the American government. He also shows us how any issue, be it domestic or foreign policy, is shaped and formed, by both a powerful minority (who are also wealthy, but not necessarily tremendously so) and their most agreeable media henchmen. Most important, he looks behind the rhetoric, and instead of parroting the same old, tired litany (America, The Hated Empire), he dares to ask why some people hate us.
This last point turns out to be a very important discussion, as many Americans believe that the world hates America and Americans. After all, this is the incessant litany our leaders and the media feed us every day via highly charged, but empty rhetoric. The reality, however, is far more complex, and among non-Americans, feelings about America vary from an extreme of admiration and adoration to outright disgust, naked contempt and pathological hostility. The truth, alas, is somewhere in the middle of this range, and it is unfortunate that this book did not assist in uncovering it.
Nonetheless, I found the book, although at times overflowing with the naive optimistic idealism that so characterizes many left-leaning individuals, to be a surprisingly even-handed, though always critical and insightful musing on US Foreign Policy. Hertsgaard also managed to inject humor into an otherwise staid and dull topic on several occasions, making it more interesting than it typically is.
I leave the reader with one final quote from the book, apparently made by a Briton: "Texans are the worst... I like most Americans, but it is quite amazing how they don't know anything about other places in the world, unless they're invading them."
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