Rethinking Anti-Americanism: The History of an Exceptional Concept in American Foreign Relations [Hardcover]

This book reveals how the concept of 'anti-Americanism' has been misused for over 200 years to stifle domestic dissent and dismiss foreign criticism.Many Americans see a hostile world plagued by anti-Americanism. Experts in and out of government have explained that anti-Americanism comes from foreigners who are envious or unhappy about America's modern society and democratic nature. This book challenges the conventional wisdom, based on research in nine countries, revealing how the concept of anti-Americanism has been misused for more than 200 years to stifle domestic dissent and dismiss foreign criticism from the War of 1812 to the Cold War, from Vietnam to Iraq.Many Americans see a hostile world plagued by anti-Americanism. Experts in and out of government have explained that anti-Americanism comes from foreigners who are envious or unhappy about America's modern society and democratic nature. This book challenges the conventional wisdom, based on research in nine countries, revealing how the concept of anti-Americanism has been misused for more than 200 years to stifle domestic dissent and dismiss foreign criticism from the War of 1812 to the Cold War, from Vietnam to Iraq.Anti-Americanism is an unusual expression; although stereotypes and hostility exist toward every nation, we do not hear of anti-Italianism or anti-Brazilianism. Only Americans have elevated such sentiment to the level of a worldview, an explanatory factor so significant as to merit a name  an ism  usually reserved for comprehensive ideological systems or ingrained prejudice. This book challenges the scholarly consensus that blames criticism of the United States on foreigners' irrational resistance to democracy and modernity. Tracing 200 years of the concept of anti-Americanism, this book argues that it has constricted political discourse about social reform and U.S. foreign policy, from the War of 1812 and the Mexican War to the Cold War, from Guatemala and Vietnam to Iraq. ResearlӃ