The big, bearded face of Michael Moore is smiling at me everywhere these days, inviting me to join his army of smug, ignorant factoid-Kalashnikovs. The major bookstores in Oslo have fairly good and broad selections on politics and history, (which seems to be all I'm reading these days), and do a good job of covering the true range of opinions available, unlike the press. But when Mr Moore's big grin times 20 is placed prominently in the recommended section in just about every store I go to, there's little doubt where their sympathies lie.

I've wondered why Michael Moore didn't conquer Norway any sooner. Stupid White Men has been on sale for a while, and he's conquered just about every other gullible nation in the world. It was Bowling for Columbine, which received rave reviews for its wit and insight earlier this year, that made Moore big in Norway, (despite an interview where he cautioned that the vikings were the original nazi's, so we had to be careful about electing centre-right governments.) That success has now been followed by a Norwegian edition of his book, Dumme hvite menn, which also receives rave reviews.

Here's one of them, by Morten Fyhn, (nemesis of local expat, "angry conservative", Bruce Bawer), in Aftenposten:

On first appearance this books seems to be perfect for anyone who thinks that speaking of George W. Bush as a really big dork is the height of political analysis and humor. Or the "idiot at the top", as Michael Moore inelegantly calls him.

But:

Moore is not content with big letters when he shouts his accusations against politicians and everything that is wrong with the US: The death penalty, racism, corruption, pollution, economic crime, poverty, and everything else. And here Moore does not limit himself to just claims. Wrapped up in heavy society satire, serious accusations and slandering there's an impressive amount of facts about the dark sides of American society. People who read his book may actually learn something about the inner life of the super power. The book gives a humorous introduction to the current situation in the US. Michael Moore is what a good clown should be - serious.

So Michael Moore isn't funny, but he can be trusted on the facts? When I saw Bowling for Columbine I thought it was the other way around - he is funny, and a very skilled propagandist, (in a long, though dishonourable, tradition), but he can't be trusted on the facts. Whenever Moore mentions a factoid, I reach for my Google.

It's funny, this adoration of Michael Moore in the Norwegian press. It, and especially Aftenposten, (the kind of dry centre-right publication that gives broadsheets a bad name), likes to think itself above demagoguery and superficial thought-bites, which it derides as "populism". But what is Michael Moore other than a particularly sloppy left-wing populist? Even if you're on his side of the political spectrum, it would have been more responsible to write: "Ok, if you think a few hours of superficial and fact-challenged satire can enlighten you about a country with 300 million people, Stupid White Men is the book for you - but for the rest of us, .."

Hm, and for the rest of us, what? Here's a challenge for readers: What book would you recommend, instead of Stupid White Men, to explain American society and politics to mildly anti-American but otherwise intelligent Norwegians?

Bjorn:

Thank you for being enlightened and willing to discover the truth. I always leave Europe laughing at their perceptions of Americans...OH, YES, WE'RE ALL UNEDUCATED FAT SLOBS (everyone I know is fairly well-traveled and has a college degree; some are wide around the girth, though), WE ALL CARRY GUNS (small percentage), WE ALL FILE LAWSUITS (extremely small percentage), WE ARE ALL RACISTS (very small percentage-we are still maturing as a nation; but I have seen PLENTY of racism in Europe), WE ARE ALL GREEDY (we just enjoy economic freedom, but that's not greed), YADDA, YADDA, YADDA... I cannot think of one single book to explain a very large country of 290 million people with different cultural backgrounds, religions, political leanings, etc. But, I can say confidently that we are united...no matter which state we're from, we do share the same basic ideals. I've lived in different regions of the country and I always felt that I belonged, because I was amongst Americans. Most Europeans I know don't understand the concept of our 50 states...50 systems with 50 ways of doing things (not unlike the many European countries, right?).

On another note...I'm looking for the soundtrack to the Norwegian movie "Ti Kniver i Hjertet" (did I spell that correctly?) and nobody can help me. I spoke with the Norwegian girls at the Norway exhibit in Epcot, I spoke to the Norwegian Consulate in Miami, and I've searched the internet for the past six months. Can you help? Tusen takk. Your blog is wonderful!

This will be boring, but Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville will still give anyone a foundational understanding of Americans and America.

Jennifer: I searched a bit, and it seems it was only released in Norway, and that was nearly ten years ago. (The artist was Magne Furuholmen from A-ha.) I looked through the Norwegian online music stores, and they don't seem to have it. So you're out of luck.

Hmmm? What book to suggest? Offhand I would probably start with one of the very many editions of Doonesbury comic strips.

I'll try to think of some more suggestions...

Hmm, I would read that request as asking what book is the most exactly opposite to that of Michael Moore. That is, one that gives both some accurate recent political and social history of the United States, and contains some actual intellectual content used in an honest effort to understand and improve the situation. Since Moore appeals to the frivolous left, which is presently out of power in the executive branch but firmly in power in academia and the traditional media, what you want is someone from the serious right, who will be able to explain how modern American conservatives think and why they think that way. So ... I'm recommending The Burden of Bad Ideas: How Modern Intellectuals Misshape Our Society by Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute. It's only about 250 pages, covers all the major American domestic controversies, and is clearly written. It does not deal with foreign policy, so perhaps another book will have to do that if you deem it necessary. What it does deal with is the problems leftists have created in America, and how conservatives are trying to cope with them.

A link to the Amazon entry: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-7330255-9284130

Biography of John Adams by David McCullough.

The Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, The Constitution of the United States of America, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. And the reason we spend billions for defense but not one penny for tribute. Various quotes by Benjamin Franklin.

Most of this is available free on the web.

Slander by Ann Coulter which again, as Chris Joyce stated, deals with the problems leftists have created in America.

Green Eggs and Ham

"What book would you recommend to explain American society and politics to mildly anti-American but otherwise intelligent Norwegians?"

I'm not sure I understand the question, are you saying Norwegians don't have enough exposure to things American? That the few bits and pieces of Americana they've come across have been so out of the mainstream that they've been left with a hopelessly muddled and innaccurate picture?
Help me out here.
If their state of ignorance is so big, then maybe they just need lots more exposure to American books, tv shows, movies and music than they're getting at present ...

I cringe when anyone asks which book or movie may reveal the ultimate truth regarding Americans. Still, I will give it a shot and recommend “What’s So Great About America” by Dinesh D’Sousa. This gentleman was born in India and eventually became a citizen. Why do I reluctantly respond to such a query? The reason is very simple: the United States is a very pluralistic country encompassing many points of view. I am a white man---and I’m a minority person in my hometown! The blacks and hispanics easily outnumber those of us of a lighter complexion. No American president has ever received more than 61% of the total national vote. In other words, something like 40% of the voters disagreed with even our most popular presidential candidates.

I have no problem with those Europeans who make a big deal concerning Michael Moore. He truly represents the far left wing of American political thinking. However, it is foolish to ignore folks like Andrew Sullivan, William F. Buckley, Mona Charen, James Fallows, and Mickey Kaus. What’s the best way to learn more about Americans? That’s very easy---just visit websites such as:

www.nationalreview.com

www.slate.com

www.salon.com

www.instapundit.com

www.theatlantic.com

www.frontpagemag.com

www.nypost.com

and yes, even the scandal plagued www.nytimes.com

Bjørn, tell them to read >.

Yes, it's annoying to see how Europe has embraced Moore now as its entertaining expert on the American condition. I liked Moore when I first discovered him (>). I agree with him about many things. However, his explanations are certainly facile much of the time. As you point out. And it's a pity that Moore now emerges as our foremost detractor abroad. An American knows what's what and should know what to take seriously and what to dismiss when he reads or watches Moore. A foreigner may not know what to believe and what not to believe. Moore is a lot more fun than Chomsky, for sure.

I think I agree with CT when he recommends de Tocqueville's >. Though the book is 270 years old now, much of what it says about us is still dead on. Wow, how did dT do it? I happen to be reading the book right now, and I am amazed to discover how little we have changed in some ways. (In terms of how we think, I mean.) The American ethos is still very much as it was when de Tocqueville traveled here.

I second Sandy P.'s suggestions. Lincoln, the Federalist Papers. There is a wonderful non-profit publisher called Library of America (http://loa.org/) that publishes the best of what we've committed to paper. I own many of these volumes and recommend the following:

Reporting World War II
Reporting Vietnam
Reporting Civil Rights
Slave Narratives
The Debate on the Constitution

Moore is popular because he is so easily digested. Unfortunately, I can't think of an equally entertaining apologist for the U.S. If your (mildly anti-American) acquaintances like poetry, then they should try Walt Whitman's >.

- Gill

Some of my comments got truncated.
Here's what dropped out:

Tell them to read http://bearstrong.net/vi_som_elsket_norge.html

I think I agree with CT when he recommends de Tocqueville's Democracy in America.

If your (mildly anti-American) acquaintances like poetry, then they should try Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

Me again.

I have a couple more ideas for you. When I lived in Norway (my long dark night of my soul), I sometimes missed my own country. There were several American books that I read during those years that were important to me, I remember now. For a person who wants to understand our institutions and our thinking on democracy, etc., The Federalist Papers and Democracy in America are great. But how many folks are actually going to slog through those tomes? Yeah, not many, I fear.

And so why not soft-sell America instead? Two novels that were important for me when I lived in Norway:

Saul Bellow's Adventures of Augie March
and
Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes

- Gill

I won't stop till I get this right. While Dave Barry is not focused 24/7 on politics the way Michael Moore is, he frequently has something to say about it:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5398886.htm

- Gill

How about P.J. O'Rourke? Parliament of Whores is somewhat dated, but good still.

(My real name?) (Huh?) Anyway, The Great Gatsby explains quite a bit about Americans. So do The Nick Adams Stories (with the revisions), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (read critically), Lolita (written by a non-American who really "got" America and loved it, too), the Big Sleep, V, The Portrait of a Lady, Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust. All critical of America, as Americans really are (we don't run around shrieking "Look at how wonderful we are!" all the time), and all loving America. For more scholarly, I suppose, input, Candor & Perversion is kinda interesting. For an examination of an American politician, Huey Long, By T. Harry Williams, is splendid.

I'm think the 'real name' clause was inserted when I started posting using different screennames for comedic effect. Bjorn understandably, like most moderators on the internet, prefers people pick ONE screenname and stick with it (I'm sure that's what he means by 'real name')...

ct: Aha, so it was you! Btw, you're still not posting with your real name yourself.

Oliver Wendell Holmes can be recommended to folks who want to try understanding those strange Americans. Holmes fought bravely in our Civil War (for the right cause and for the right reasons), served as a Supreme Court justice, and is credited as one of the people responsible for developing America's only contribution to world philosophy — pragmatism. Which is a kind of anti-philosophy, I guess, that opposes programmatic thinking. Holmes is quoted on page 6 of this essay in the current issue of Foreign Affairs:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030501faessay11217-p0/michael-j-glennon/why-the-security-council-failed.html

I'll just quote a little bit from the essay. This essay attempts to explain why the U.N. failed and what might successfully replace it.

A second, related lesson from the UN's failure is thus that rules must flow from the way states actually behave, not how they ought to behave. "The first requirement of a sound body of law," wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, "is that it should correspond with the actual feelings and demands of the community, whether right or wrong." This insight will be anathema to continuing believers in natural law, the armchair philosophers who "know" what principles must control states, whether states accept those principles or not.

There is no need for grand theory and no place for self-righteousness. The life of the law, Holmes said, is not logic but experience. Humanity need not achieve an ultimate consensus on good and evil. The task before it is empirical, not theoretical. Getting to a consensus will be accelerated by dropping abstractions, moving beyond the polemical rhetoric of "right" and "wrong," and focusing pragmatically on the concrete needs and preferences of real people who endure suffering that may be unnecessary.

- Gill

Try "American Dreams, Lost and Found" by Studs Terkel. Terkel interviewed a hundred-some Americans about what they thought 'American dream' meant. There's no theory or conclusion drawn by the book. It's just a wide spread of Americans giving their two cents about what they want America to be. If someone is anti-American because they don't like their idea of America, this'd be a good counterpoint.

Studs Terkel, though, it should be mentioned is (was?) something of a petulant Marxist. Sort of Ed Asner realm of intellect if I recall correctly...(though I know he was an actual writer and all that and Ed Asner is a know-nothing entertainer)...

A side note to Bjorn: I hope I didn't confess to anything I didn't actually do. I was under the impression you have access to I.P. addresses. I started posting awhile back under 'God is in control, humans questionable' and I think one other that I can't recall now... I went back to 'ct' when you inserted the 'real name' clause. Surely you don't expect REAL, real name, though, do you...? Anyway, how could anyone know... CT are my initials anyway...

Nice to see you here, Tim. This is BarbariskAmerikaner from Aftenpostens debatt pages. I gave up on the folks at Aftenposten. This Bjørn Stærk is a whole different kind of Norwegian, isn't he? They need to grow more like him over there. When they do, I'll go back to Aftenposten.

Studs Terkel is a real good suggestion.

- Gill

Gill: Thanks for pointing out that Foreign Affairs article. That is one significant piece of analysis.

Europeans should be reading that, for their own good.

ct: Actually I do expect a real (ie. full) name. I use mine, why can't you use yours? It's my experience that anonymous posting (and blogging) makes people less civil. Maybe you have a good reason to be anonymous, (a narrow-minded boss, or a high-profile job you don't want mixed up with your personal opinions), and that's ok. But if you don't, I'd rather you use your real name.

I'm not going to delete everyone who uses nicknames, that wouldn't do any good - so see this as a _polite request_.

Gill: Sorry, you have me confused with someone else. Never been to Afterposten. Good to meet you, though!

CT: AFAIK Terkel himself leans left, with a lot of union and civil rights history. As an oral historian, his stuff comes out pretty neutral. From what I've seen, his interview books are too broad to push a single viewpoint. There's too many different kinds of people talking.

_Lincoln At Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America_, by Garry Wills. And, in addition to Sandy P's advice, Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.

The Civil War is the central event of American history. It was a continuation of the Revolution and it created the nation. (Formerly, one was a Virginian or a New Yorker or whatever first, and an American second.) It would help to think of the contrast between America's great war and Europe's. The latter turned out to be a pointless and futile slaughter which constitutes (As Paul Berman helpfully points out in his Salon interview) a great crack in European civilization. America's great war is seen as tragic and necessary and in strongly moral terms, even though it too involved the terrible mass slaughter made possible by the industrialization of war.

Just as the Civil war is intrinsically linked with the Revolution, it also reaches forward. It is often said that the South lost the war and won the peace (though nobody who has read the second part of Richard Wright's _Black Boy_ can claim that brutal institutionalized racism was limited to the South). So the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's in particular is in many ways a continuation of the Civil War, itself a continuation of the Revolution.

As has been noted in comments on this blog, the victory is not won entirely, but we're clearly in the mopping up phase now in terms of racial equality. And we're nearly there on women's rights. There's still a lot of work to do when it comes to equal rights for gays and lesbians.

This progressive movement, which hinges on the Civil War, is best captured in a few key documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, his Second Inaugural Address, and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

To recap: you cannot understand America without understanding the American Civil War. Given that 40 per cent of college seniors in the US do not even know when the Civil War occurred, it is not surprising that Americans have not tended to do so well at explaining what their country is about.

Bjorn, if I may add to the list of recommended reading, I'd suggest, oddly enough, any history books on English society in the 18th century. It has been murmured on several occaisions on British blogs and articles that perhaps one of the reasons why Americans are so stubbornly 'capitalist' and unwilling to "modernize" is because we still cling to a concept of living/society/governance that was popular amongst the English at the time of the Revolution. The implication being that for a country that is still ridiculously young for its power, America and Americans are have the unmittigating gall to retain those principles in which is was forged, "OLD" ideas, as it were....

Reading books on English society in the 18th century gave me a better appreciation not only for the Founding Fathers, but a taste of the SPIRIT of the English as it had been fostered before Queen Victoria's reign. If I remember correctly, much of the criticisms and admirations leveled at the English can now be heard of Americans today.

It is why it saddens me even more to see Great Britain and its neighboring countries in the grip of socialism. It is not what those 18th century pioneers of free market and individual freedom had in mind.

BarbariskAmerikaner :-)

du kan prove deg paa aftenpostens formum naa.
Det er muslimer og politikere som misslikes naa...

Leste Norges histrien din, Har alltid likt Norge saa det var litt trist lesing.
Men du skulle gitt den ut, en god del normenn hadde hatt godt av den historien.

What book would you recommend, instead of Stupid White Men, to explain American society and politics to mildly anti-American but otherwise intelligent Norwegians?

As somebody mentioned above, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Read it and cry.
However, if you are interested in American society and politics as such (instead of the -attitude- of America's society), I would recommend any work by Karl Marx. I'm no communist; in fact, I am quite far from being one, but as it happens, Marx's works are the best EXPLANATION of American society and politics (not to say "justification").

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