by Dinesh D'Souza (Author)



Editorial Reviews

Look again at the title of this book: it's not a question, but a
statement. "America is the greatest, freest, and most decent society in
existence," writes Dinesh D'Souza. "American life as it is lived today
[is] the best life that our world has to offer." There are those who hate
it, or at least essential elements of it, from radical Islamists to the
likes of Patrick Buchanan (on the right) and Jesse Jackson (on the left).
But they are wrong to hate it, and D'Souza grapples with all of them in
this engaging and compelling volume. D'Souza is the author of provocative
books such as Illiberal Education and The End of Racism, plus the
appreciative Ronald Reagan. This may be his most personal book, with parts
written in the first person as the India-born D'Souza describes his
encounter with the United States, first as an immigrant and now as a
citizen. Foreign authors such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Gunnar Myrdal
have offered some of the most penetrating assessments of America, and
D'Souza clearly shares in this noble tradition. "I am constantly surprised
by how much I hear racism talked about and how little I actually see it,"
he writes. What's So Great About America is also vintage D'Souza, full of
feisty arguments and sharp humor. He is perhaps better at explaining why
America's critics are wrong than explaining why America's celebrants are
right, but he's very good at both. Written in the months following the
September 11 terrorist strikes, this book should find a large and
receptive audience.

From Publishers Weekly
It's easy to see the appeal of D'Souza's patriotic cheerleading. A former
domestic policy analyst under Reagan, he sees the world in black and
white: on one side, America "the best life our world has to offer" on the
other, "the enemy, which conducts its operations in the name of Islam." To
his credit, D'Souza (Illiberal Education, etc.) lays out his case well,
although little here is new: America, he says, is a land of opportunity
and freedom (D'Souza himself immigrated to the U.S. from India), and those
who oppose American policy are simply jealous. But he doesn't stop with
exhortations to fellow citizens about why the war against terrorism is
righteous. D'Souza, a leading conservative thinker, revels in thumbing his
nose at his ideological opponents: one of his chapters is provocatively
named "Two Cheers for Colonialism." In this chapter, D'Souza trumpets the
science, democracy and capitalism that he believes have led the West to
global supremacy. Along the way, he spares no chance to bash those who he
thinks have "denigrated" America and trivialized its freedom:
multiculturalists, feminists, hippies and vegetarians. For the most part,
D'Souza steers clear of criticizing his fellow conservatives, and when he
does, as when he lectures them about the need to combine morality with
freedom, he lacks specifics. In the end, reading D'Souza's book is similar
to spending an hour listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio his fellow
travelers will love it; readers on the left will love to hate it.

Product Details

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); (May 27, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142003018