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A review of The Eagle's Shadow - Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World

by Mark Hertsgaard

Examination and explanation of perceptions of America throughout the world

Reviewed by: Guy Brandon
About Guy Brandon

The Eagle's Shadow - Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World American journalist and broadcaster Mark Hertsgaard visited 15 countries in his round-the-world trip to gather information on the subject of how the US is regarded abroad. He met and interviewed a wide range of people: teenagers obsessed with American fashion and films, businessmen envious of western affluence, even retired terrorists angry about US foreign policy. This interesting and often humorous anecdotal evidence is interspersed throughout The Eagle’s Shadow, which is aimed at two audiences. For Americans, it is intended to demonstrate how others view their country. For everyone else, it is an explanation for why the US is the way it is.

American influence is literally ubiquitous, be it in the form of music, film, food, clothes, technology or politics. American news, even of little international significance, is still news all over the world. This all-pervasive presence is something that everyone has feelings on – whether envy, admiration, unease or outrage; no one is indifferent. The Eagle’s Shadow consists of ten chapters of dialogue, structured around a number of common impressions that foreigners have about America: the US is self-centred, whilst at the same time being rich, exciting and the land of freedom. It is a hypocritical and domineering empire, naïve about the world – but it holds unparalleled opportunities. Although Hertsgaard began his research long before 9/11/01, the terrorist actions in New York and Washington, DC have brought a new relevancy and immediacy to his intentions.

Two enduring perceptions can be found the world over: that America is richer than anyone else, and that Americans have more fun. The author tracks his country’s values and optimism back to its origins in 1776: the New World was colonised by the adventurous, the risk-takers and the energetic from the start. By the end of World War I, it was already the world’s largest economy, and underwent huge growth in the period after the Second World War until the early 1970’s, when the OPEC oil embargo brought an end to the “golden era”. Hollywood and the media capitalised on this consumer-driven culture, promoting the importance that material possessions had in the nation’s life, and the image that America was a paradise in which life was trouble-free and worries were few. A desire for the easy life as presented by American TV is a common denominator the world over. The US is regarded with admiration and envy by countless – and at the same time, the flip side of that coin: with resentment. The same evaluation applies to their military capabilities and foreign policy.

Feelings about America (and, by extension, increasingly the West in general) are not as simple as the two-dimensional picture we are often given by the media and government; they are mixed, and often complex. As the greatest economic and military power in history, the US is both admired and feared simultaneously. One of the attractions of this enlightening book is that it is lent immediate credibility by the fact that it was written by a patriotic American, and is not simply propaganda – either for or against the US. The Eagle’s Shadow is an objective, balanced and useful assessment of an enormous amount of first-hand evidence and experience.

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Copyright © by Guy Brandon, 2002

Reviewed by Guy Brandon:
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-- The Eagle's Shadow - by Mark Hertsgaard
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-- Ender's Game - by Orson Scott Card
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-- 2001: A Space Odyssey - by Arthur C. Clarke
-- Color: Stories from the Paintbox - by Victoria Finlay
-- Arcadia - by Tom Stoppard
-- Angry White Pyjamas - by Robert Twigger
-- Lord of the Rings - by J. R. R. Tolkien
-- The Matrix and Philosophy - by William Irwin









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