A revealing comparison of the United States and Europe, compellingly argued and based on the latest international statistics
There is much heated rhetoric about the widening gulf between Europe
and America. According to the American right, Europeans are lazy,
defeatist and irreligious, while Americans are entrepreneurial,
optimistic, and pious. And according to Europeans, America is harsh,
dominated by the market, crime-ridden, violent, and sharp-elbowed.
But are the US and Europe so different? Peter Baldwin, one of the
world`s leading historians of comparative social policy, thinks not,
and in this bracingly argued but remarkably informed polemic, he lays
out how similar the two continents really are. Drawing on the latest
evidence from sources such as the United Nations, the World Bank, IMF,
and other international organizations, Baldwin offers a fascinating
comparison of the United States and Europe, looking at the latest
statistics on the economy, crime, health care, education and culture,
religion, the environment, and much more. It is a book filled with
surprising revelations. For most categories of crime, for instance,
America is safe and peaceful by European standards. But the biggest
surprise is that, though there are many differences between America and
Europe, in almost all cases, these differences are no greater than the
differences among European nations. Europe and the US are, in fact,
part of a common, big-tent grouping. America is not Sweden, for sure.
But nor is Italy Sweden, nor France, nor even Germany. And who says
that Sweden is Europe? Anymore than Vermont is America?
Writing with flair and armed with an impressive stock of evidence,
Baldwin paints a truly eye-opening portrait of Europe and America.
Anyone interested in American foreign relations--or simply curious
about American and European society--will want to read this revelatory
volume.
EAN: 9780195391206
Vydavateľstvo: Oxford University Press
Autori: Rôzni autori (editori)
Rok vydania: 2010
Jazyk: Anglický