Don't Tread on Me: Anti-Americanism Abroad [Hardcover]

Of course there is anti Americanism just as there are anti UK sentiments, anti Islam sentiments and anti Jewish sentiments all round the world. I live in the UK and I have numerous American relatives and friends who regularly travel here to London and stay for several months at a time. I checked with them in case I was missing something but none have experienced the kind of poisonous experience related here in this book. Yes, anti Americanism was more accented here while George W Bush was in charge but try talking to Americans about the French and all you get is jokes about them only knowing how to surrender to Germans. Talk to them about Mexicans and they really get going. Talk to a Hispanic US citizen and see how they feel about your average white American's attitude. All things are relative.

In my opinion this is written by a rather paranoid, thin skinned, American Jew looking for the worst everywhere and no doubt disappointed when she doesn't find it. The book is not well constructed and the argument is poor. It might have more impact if it were better thought through and presented in a more professional way. As it is, it smacks of a few hurried notes of memories gathered together and formed into a bad tempered book of little proper literary worth. I would have expected more from a playwright and author.

The constant example of a well educated, kindly and tolerant US citizen as opposed to the general xenophobic person she seems to think is typical of a UK citizen is hard to see as a typical American. I have been there (to 35 states) and the Americans are as mixed in their attitudes as we are in the UK, but maybe less open and honest about their own prejudices. For example racial slurs in a back handed kind of way, mainly through jokes are common in some areas and stereotypes of blondes, rednecks and wetbacks are common in others. One only has to witness the polarisation of politics in the US and the really nasty tactics that go on during Primaries and Elections to see the true capability and bad manners of some Americans. UK visitors to the US frequently get reminded that they "Whupped" us in the War of Independence, but so what?

The whole book smacks of the often spouted American sentiment "They hate us because they are jealous of our freedoms." In this case non-Americans are portrayed as being jealous of "the shared tradition and faith of it's people." I doubt most people in the UK have time to consider the intricacies of the traditions and faith of the Americas; we just recognise loud opinionated people if we see them and don't suffer fools gladly. We also welcome friendly, kind souls who can socialise or have discourse with us without taking every little remark as a personal insult and accusing us of no more than you can find in America itself.

This is not a book I would recommend as an impartial and balanced acount of life in the UK. I think the author portrays a few unfortunate incidents in the UK as more commonplace than they actually are, and she has rose tinted spectacles on when she looks back fondly at her country of birth.

I found it very easy to identify with this author's predicament.

Just imagine that you had settled in a socially and economically advanced country that was nominally an ally of Britain (say, Spain), you had integrated into their way of life and contributed to their economy, and yet everywhere you went you found yourself harangued, browbeaten and berated about Britain's supposedly abysmal human rights record, wretched institutions, nugatory achievements and ghastly cultural exports, not to mention having unfavourable comments made about your ethnic and religious background. Imagine also that some of the most crass and bigoted comments came from neighbours, colleagues and people you regarded as friends.

Would you stand your ground and try to convince them they were wrong, at the risk of inviting even harsher censure? Attempt to mollify your accusers by pretending to agree with them? Or just lose your accent, change your surname and keep your head down?

Carol Gould has taken the fourth option - flight. She is, at the time of writing, making preparations for a permanent return to her country of origin. It's our loss. Her credentials sound impressive- she is a Phi Beta Kappa, meaning she is among the brightest 1% of American university graduates, and has lived here for 32 years, during which times she has worked as a script and commissioning editor, film-maker and playwright, and become a naturalised British citizen.

Don't Tread On Me is a book that most people will either love or hate. I loved it, so it's with some reluctance I feel I can only give it three stars. This emotionally-charged hotchpotch of socio-political commentary, personal experience and recollections will at least stimulate debate, but the jumbled presentation and lack of systematic research mean that its informative value is limited. After initial resistance, I decided I rather liked Gould's exuberant, stream-of-consciousness style of writing, but at the same time it's a pity that she rarely sticks with one theme long enough to develop it into a real killer argument.

Some of my favourite parts are: where Ms Gould demolishes the canard that "The Israel lobby" (i.e. the Jews) control the media and shape US foreign policy; her counter-argument to the accusation that the American TV news channels and press are banal, uninformative, and parochial; a defence of American education; an account of the lurid and frankly vengeful way in which some sections of the media covered the friendly-fire death of British soldier (ITN even sent a film crew to the home town of the American "culprit", fighter pilot Gus Kohntopp, who reportedly went into hiding); and reportage from the odiously-named "Global Peace and Unity Conference" (really an Islamist hate-fest) held in London in 2005.

Other disturbing examples of Yank-bashing covered include the death threats made against prospective football investors Malcolm Glazer, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the bizarre antics of Ken Livingstone, and the excesses of the anti-war movement, although these may be old news to some people.

Throughout, the author relates how she gets hectored about her home country's perceived shortcomings and even personally abused by people on the street ("as soon as I open my mouth" as she puts it). I do not think she is being oversensitive, or that she is exaggerating, as some of her contemporaries have claimed. But I would have preferred it if she'd shown more awareness of the fact that London is not synonymous with the UK, and that London attitudes don't necessarily represent UK attitudes. The Big Smoke, after all, isn't renowned for being one of the friendliest cities in Britain.

Anyway, this volume has given me some food for thought, and especially it has made me think again about the possible connection between anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. If you fancy something more cerebral and methodical, though, I would recommend What's Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way by Nick Cohen and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis by Bat'Yeor.

This is a 21st century J'Accuse against the growth in anti-Americanism and its vile, incestuous sibling - antisemitism. The book is so much more than that, though. It is also a personal celebration of all that is great about America and Americans, a charge-sheet against the hypocrisy and envy that underpins the prejudice against them and a personal journal of a brave, plucky woman in strange times.

I think what I enjoyed most about Don't Tread On me is that Carol is not content to merely disprove the lies about American people. She goes to the next stage and proudly celebrates their pluckiness, their work ethic and all the other qualities that make them such a great people. I've read countless American non-fiction and fiction books but this is the one that in my opinion best captures the admirable spirit of the people. Informative, entertaining and above all damn right, it is a brilliant read.