“Once you see the deep and diffuse roots of current anti-Americanism, you realize there won’t be an easy fix.”—The New York Times Book Review

The rise of anti-Americanism is the most pressing challenge facing us. In America Against the World, Pew Research Center president Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes consider the surprising findings of Pew’s unprecedented survey of world opinion to understand why the world has turned against America: where once we were considered the champion of democracy, we are now seen as a militant hyperpower.

The answer: Americans’ go-it-alone attitudes have pushed the world away. From our business endeavors abroad to the Bush administration’s preemptive war policy, exceptional individualism—in particular, our belief in personal responsibility and our unclouded optimism—have encouraged the world to view the United States as a bully and a threat. Former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright argues in her foreword that we cannot stop the spread of anti-Americanism without truly understanding who we are. America Against the World provides the insights to take that step.

Andrew Kohut (September 2, 1942 – September 8, 2015) was an American pollster and nonpartisan news commentator about public affairs topics. Kohut was the founding director of the Pew Research Center and served as director of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. From 1979-1989, Kohut was president of the Gallup Organization, and in 1989 he founded Princeton Survey Research Associates, an attitude and opinion research firm specializing in media, politics and public policy. Kohut died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia on September 8, 2015.

Publisher: MacMillan Publishers
Pages: 288
Published: 5/01/2007