Rating: 
Summary: A Christmas book for friends who ask: "Why do they hate us?"
Review: This book is not for those who believe America SHOULD be the world's biggest bully, or those who think that 'winning' means America pushing others around to satisfy our desires. These people (we all know a few of them!) will not appreciate the fact that the author attacks America's smug, self-satisfied vision of itself. Prestowitz documents a history of arrogance, duplicity, hypocrisy, bullying, vacillation, whim, and other behaviors that used to be considered faults or flaws. (Despite his "conservative" credentials he may or may not get away with 'criticizing America,' as he does in this volume. In a country studded with "I support President Bush and our troops" lawn signs it seems doubtful that most conservatives will accept his 'defection' from O'Reilly/Coulter/Limbaugh orthodoxy.)Prestowitz sees America as 'something special.' He refers to America as a 'shining city upon a hill', implying that America has more to offer the world than hamburger stands and superhighways. One of Prestowitz's more controversial theses is that the United States should be guided in its foreign policy by some form or another of ethics and by respect for foreign nations and for individual foreigners. On the first page, Prestowitz states: "What troubles me, and has inspired my title, is that increasingly large numbers of people abroad...are beginning to see us ... as, in the words of Webster's dictionary, 'no longer... belonging, not controllable or answerable, and with an unpredictable disposition.'" [Actually, the full definition of "rogue" appears in the head note: "No longer obedient, belonging or accepted, not controllable or answerable; deviant, having an abnormally savage or unpredictable disposition."] As others have noted, most of this depressing book consists of documentation of America's "rogue" behavior. (For those unfamiliar with American history and who want to understand how the American dream has left the track, this book is fascinating.) Prestwick analyzes the issues of foreign policy arrogance, stupidity, and bureaucratic incompetence quite adequately. However -- I thought it ironic that the author (who is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, a Calvinist denomination based on acceptance of predestination) seems unable or unwilling to admit that he is simply a spectator: a chronicler of an evolving epic tragedy. He seems to think something can be done to change the foreign policy the Federal Government -- and the special interests it serves -- is following. In the last chapter, "City On A Hill", (in predictably American fashion), Prestwick asks the inevitable (and predictable) question: "What then is to be done?" (The option "nothing" is not offered - very American that!). Prestwick posts a long laundry list of "we shoulds". This is the weakest part of the book, since it is obvious that almost none of them will be adopted. This is not because they are bad ideas (most in fact are quite sensible) -- but because neither those in power nor the special interests they represent will benefit from implementing them. Still this is a well-written and interesting indictment.
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