PositiveThe Washington Post...a compelling exhortation to introspection ... She vividly captures the disorientation we experience when our preconceived notions collide with uncomfortable discoveries, likening that moment to 'a cavity filling: something drilled out, something shoved in, and afterward, a persistent, dull ache and a tooth that would never be the same' ... It is rare and refreshing for an observer to exhibit this level of candor about her internal tensions. But occasionally Hansen’s perceptions create tensions of their own. While she premises her book on the judgment that America is in decline, she also characterizes it as an empire ... and while Hansen rightly cautions against blind acceptance of America’s foreign policy, which has often departed from its self-professed values, blanket suspicion is not warranted, either. Her narrative would be more balanced if she acknowledged some of the contributions of U.S. power ... Still, with the U.S.-led postwar order under growing duress, and with long-standing U.S. allies increasingly questioning America’s reputation as the exemplar of openness and pluralism, Hansen’s principal injunction to Americans to understand how others view them and their country’s policies is timely and urgent.
