The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism

By Philippe Roger

Book Overview

Georges-Louis Buffon, an eighteenth-century French scientist, was the first to promote the widespread idea that nature in the New World was deficient; in America, which he had never visited, dogs don't bark, birds don't sing, and--by extension--humans are weaker, less intelligent, and less potent. Thomas Jefferson, infuriated by these claims, brought a seven-foot-tall carcass of a moose from America to the entry hall of his Parisian hotel, but the five-foot-tall Buffon remained unimpressed and refused to change his views on America's inferiority.

Buffon, as Philippe Roger demonstrates here, was just one of the first in a long line of Frenchmen who have built a history of anti-Americanism in that country, a progressive history that is alternately ludicrous and trenchant. The American Enemy is Roger's bestselling and widely acclaimed history of French anti-Americanism, presented here in English translation for the first time.

With elegance and good humor, Roger goes back 200 years to unearth the deep roots of this anti-Americanism and trace its changing nature, from the belittling, as Buffon did, of the "savage American" to France's resigned dependency on America for goods and commerce and finally to the fear of America's global domination in light of France's thwarted imperial ambitions. Roger sees French anti-Americanism as barely acquainted with actual fact; rather, anti-Americanism is a cultural pillar for the French, America an idea that the country and its culture have long defined themselves against.

Sharon Bowman's fine translation of this magisterial work brings French anti-Americanism into the broad light of day, offering fascinating reading for Americans who care about our image abroad and how it came about.

"Mr. Roger almost single-handedly creates a new field of study, tracing the nuances and imagery of anti-Americanism in France over 250 years. He shows that far from being a specific reaction to recent American policies, it has been knit into the very substance of French intellectual and cultural life. . . . His book stuns with its accumulated detail and analysis."--Edward Rothstein, New York Times

"A brilliant and exhaustive guide to the history of French Ameriphobia."--Simon Schama, New Yorker

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226723682
• ISBN13: 9780226723686
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Quite revealing book about the French/Euro attitude

The reaction of Monsieur Buffon to Thomas Jefferson's proof of Buffon's ignorance is but one minor example of the depth of France's, and by extension Europe's, pathologically irrational attitude toward America/things American....and it gets worse further on. The bad part, as authors such as Markovits and Revel exposed in their books, is that the anti-American psychosis of France's/Europe's "elites" has spread to a large part of the general population. It'll be interesting to see how long the French/Euros will continue to hold on to their illusion of America being the threat to their civilization & culture as their Muslim populations become increasingly Talibanized.

academic study of anti-americanism

It is important to note that this book is written by a Frenchman, but one who is very sympathetic to the US. It is written in an academic style, and at times assumes a knowledge of French history and culture that may be lacking in the American reader. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating study of the subject, particularly the first bits concerning French attitudes during the 18th century about North America's degenerative qualities, and the French sympathy for the Confederacy. Some of the later bits were a bit drawn out, but all in all, very interesting.

Brilliant scholarship, and a good read

Roger had an original idea and executed it perfectly: Rather than engaging in the endless debates pro or con about America, he takes a clue from Nietzschean geneology and traces the origins and historical path of the anti-American discourse in France. This is a refreshing change of pace from the recent controversies, replacing polemic with superb historical and cultural study. This great idea is backed up with wit and good writing, making it already an indepensible book on this topic. Roger's courage and originality have certainly paid off: His book was critically well-received in France--no light feat in nation with a tradition of historical analysis--despite its obvious contrarian critique. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in France, the US, or how prejudices are historically constructed.