American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of

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American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville

What does it mean to be an American, and what can America be today? To answer these questions, celebrated philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri LÃ©vy spent a year traveling throughout the country in the footsteps of another great Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, whose Democracy in America remains the most influential book ever written about our country.
The result is American Vertigo, a fascinating, wholly fresh look at a country we sometimes only think we know. From Rikers Island to Chicago mega-churches, from Muslim communities in Detroit to an Amish enclave in Iowa, LÃ©vy investigates issues at the heart of our democracy: the special nature of American patriotism, the coexistence of freedom and religion (including the religion of baseball), the prison system, the â€œreturn of ideologyâ€ and the health of our political institutions, and much more. He revisits and updates Tocquevilleâ€™s most important beliefs, such as the dangers posed by â€œthe tyranny of the majority,â€ explores what Europe and America have to learn from each other, and interprets what he sees with a novelistâ€™s eye and a philosopherâ€™s depth.
Through powerful interview-based portraits across the spectrum of the American people, from prison guards to clergymen, from Norman Mailer to Barack Obama, from Sharon Stone to Richard Holbrooke, LÃ©vy fills his book with a tapestry of American voicesâ€“some wise, some shocking. Both the grandeur and the hellish dimensions of American life are unflinchingly explored. And big themes emerge throughout, from the crucial choices America
faces today to the underlying reality that, unlike the â€œOld World,â€ America remains the fulfillment of the worldâ€™s desire to worship, earn, and live as one wishesâ€“a place, despite all, where inclusion remains not just an ideal but an actual practice.
At a time when Americans are anxious about how the world perceives them and, indeed, keen to make sense of themselves, a brilliant and sympathetic foreign observer has arrived to help us begin a new conversation about the meaning of America.

From the Hardcover edition.

Country	USA
Author	Bernard-Henri Lévy
Binding	Paperback
Brand	Brand: Random House Trade Paperbacks
EAN	9780812974713
Edition	Reprint
Feature	Used Book in Good Condition
ISBN	0812974719
Label	Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer	Random House Trade Paperbacks
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	320
PublicationDate	2007-04-10
Publisher	Random House Trade Paperbacks
ReleaseDate	2007-04-10
Studio	Random House Trade Paperbacks

American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville

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