| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Arnaldo Testi. Stelle e strisce: Storia di Una Bandiera. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri. 2003. Pp. 140. €9.50.

A common experience for European visitors in the United States—one that Arnaldo Testi aptly recalls in his remarkable book—is that of marveling at the insistence with which the American flag is displayed almost everywhere and on every occasion. The reaction is usually a mixed one, of surprise, perplexity, even embarrassment, and sometimes annoyance, national flags being to Europeans, independently of one's own political stance, clear symbols of patriotism if not outright chauvinism. But, as often happens in this field, things are rather more complicated, especially as far as the relationship between American culture and the "Stars and Stripes" is concerned. And this book, written by an outstanding Italian scholar well-known both in Europe and in the United Sates, is a very useful tool for anyone who is interested in knowing more about that relationship. Of course, one may wonder (and I myself feel inclined to do so) if this is not yet another form of "American exceptionalism": every aspect of the American national life becoming a sort of peculiar experience, to be separately and differently approached, encapsulated, studied, and explained. It may or may not be so. But one thing is certain: the metaphorical density of so many phenomena that involve American culture (and above all American material culture) and the way in which they become (and define themselves as) impressive symbols, within and without the United States, are matters of study as well as of wonder.

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