American Vertigo

Talks about the year-long journey to America, aimed at discovering whether Americans are really the evil, big, loud-mouthed and unsophisticated people a growing number of people think they are.

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Anti-Americanism was a co-invention of French and German fascists. Is the current rise of anti-Americanism the shape of modern fascism asks France's most-famous writer, Bernard-Henri Levy? Early in the nineteenth century, Alexis de Tocqueville - a distant relative of Chateaubriand and a name - arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, was the first to write a travel portrait of modern America - the classic "Democracy in America". It has remained the most influential book on America, and his name is still known by every American. As this book does not cover anti-Americanism, Levy set off on a year-long tour of the US. One of his aims is to get to the heart of the myths about American culture that have grown up since Alexis de Tocqueville. Levy's crisp diary entries blend journalism, literature, chance encounters, a cinematic eye and a philosopher's depth, as he interviews Americans at a time when they seem to be uncertain about their identity. From Woody Allen to George Soros, from a proud prostitute in Nevada to a psychotic death-row convict in New Orleans, Levy visits the frontiers of modern American.
Probing the paradoxical connection between celebrity and politics, prisons and retirement communities, nature and American history, he deftly teases apart the supple strands that hold together the most influential people in the world. The result is "American Vertigo" - both an open-minded travelogue and a strong antidote to the anti-America sentiment that seem to have become commonplace in Europe.