Literary Views & Reviews Why Do The Americans...?

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 4

Literary Views & Reviews Why Do The Americans...?

Behind the Golden Curtain. By Susan Cooper. Hodder and Stoughton. 256 pp.

The Iron Curtain is hardly new to us. and we are equally aware of the Bamboo Curtain. A British journalist, Susan Cooper, believes there is another insulating curtain—one of prejudice and chauvinism that separates the United States from the rest of the world, and from Europe in particular. Most British, the author avers, are quite confident that they know all about the United States, and that apart from a few saving graces, the American way of life is wholly inferior to their own. The Americans, they believe, ere brash and vulgar Philistines with too much money. The Americans on their side think that they are the divinely appointed guardians of something called Freedom, which is synonymous with Capitalism. They find the British pretty frigid, even if their accents are cute. Both suffer from an acute lack of curiosity about the other nation.

As an Englishwoman who has recently married an American and lives in the United States, Susan Cooper is in a particularly suitable position to write a book about these mutual misconceptions. A few years ago, she would not have known enough about the American way of life; and a few years hence, she may well be insulated herself, and begin to take for granted all the agreeable physical comforts and mental barriers of the Americans. This work is a very stimulating and challenging book. We may agree or disagree with Susan Cooper about certain details. But she is a responsible and serious journalist who is far from blind to the faults of her own country. If at times the book reads like an analysis of '‘What’s Wrong With America." we must remember that in her career with the “Sunday Times” of London, the author played a major

part in revealing just what is wrong with Britain. She puts her finger with uncannyaccuracy on many current prejudices, and expresses very succinctly what many of us have grown to believe vaguely and instinctively. She has hunted facts with the persistence of a trained journalist, and has interpreted them with originality. One chapter which is of great interest is that which deals with the American system of education, comparing it with the British. She shows that it is grossly unfair to make the hasty comparison and judgment which so many Englishmen—and New Zea-

landers—cannot resist. She points out the advantages and pitfalls of each. Another section deals with the place of the arts in America. She recognises the vitality and enthusiasm of those involved in the arts in the United States. But she notes two disturbing trends which are hampering the growth of “culture” there. First, the cult of the healthy, normal, extrovert guy causes distrust of intellectuality and creativity. Second, the habit

of well-meaning societywomen in patronising the arts without any genuine comprehension may be equally stifling. Perhaps the most controversial chapter in the book is the one which expresses the belief that the right to own firearms without a licence is both the expression and a contributing cause of the underlying violence of the country. However, the key to the misunderstanding, the lack of contact, between the United States and the rest of the world is probably the American conceptions of democracy, capitalism, free enterprise, communism, and liberty, which differ radically from those of other countries. Susan Cooper surely will have fulfilled her aim in writing this book: she wants both British and Americans to be aware that the differences between their countries go far deeper than the classic cookie-biscuit-scone confusions. She hopes that this awareness will lead to an effort on both sides towards understanding and sympathy. New Zealanders can learn a great deal from this book, too.