You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 242 words from this article are provided below; about 426 words remain.
 
If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:
• login here if you have already registered for online access.
• Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.

If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:
• Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.

Instititutions can:
•  Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.
| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.4 | The History Cooperative
93.4  
Journals link Search link Partners link Information link
March, 2007
Previous
Next
The Journal of American History

Table of Contents
List journal issues
Home
Get a printer-friendly version of this page
 


Book Review



Antiamerikanismus im 20. Jahrhundert: Studien zu Ost- und Westeuropa (Anti-Americanism in the twentieth century: Studies on eastern and western Europe). Ed. by Jan C. Behrends, Árpád von Klimó, and Patrice G. Poutrus. (Bonn: Dietz, 2005. 368 pp. €36.00, ISBN 3-8012-4154-8.) In German.

This volume confirms that anti-Americanism is a heterogeneous set of biases and stereotypes that has remained particularly prominent among educated and bourgeois groups in Europe, a continent that has been exposed to American economic, political, and cultural influences at least since the late nineteenth century. Not surprisingly, though, this volume does not arrive at a coherent definition of the term. The attempt of the editors to distinguish between a "classical anti-Americanism" and one that was "radical" and "limitless" is not taken up by the succeeding contributions (p. 16). Undoubtedly, anti-American stereotypes could serve as a potential way to mobilize fears and aggressions to new ends. Konrad Jarausch's profound essay on "anti-Americanism as a projection" comes nearest to a comprehensive explanation by disentangling the idiosyncratic motives of both the European Left and Right in distancing themselves from America—ranging from a fundamental critique of capitalism to cultural fears about a U.S.-style, consumer-oriented modernity as a threat to the true culture of the Christian occident. Andrei S. Markovitz's astute essay is even more pointed: Anti-Americanism may offer an ideological glue for the European Union, one, however, that in recent years—as in the past—has shown an appalling connection with anti-Semitic tendencies. . . .

There are about 426 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.