Garrison Keillor is steamed—Fries frenchman’s book

Garrison Keillor reviews 'American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville,' by Bernard-Henri Lévy in today’s NY Times Books section, and doesn’t like what he reads. Specifically, he dislikes Levy‘s choice of things to observe in his travels through America, and accuses the French, in general, of having a warped sense of what America is all about.
I have read only one of the Atlantic Monthly pieces upon which Levy has based his book. It was interesting and inventive, and focused upon the peculiarities of America, not the norms. His article did precisely what the travel genre has always done.
Keillor’s touchy response is an indication of America’s current insecurity. Like an adolescent, America is unsure of who it is and of what its role is in the world. It has serious doubts about its own normalcy and serious fears that it is somehow weird.
The best Keillor can do is raise objections to details in the book and accuse Levy of being a “Frenchman.”
American Vertigo is available at Amazon.

Technorati Tags: books, commentary, culture, Europe, France, United States, writing