AMERICANS ARE ALONE IN THE WORLD

Brogan, the Scotchman, interprets America in his The American Character; Allistair Cooke, the Englishman, in his One Man's America; now Barzini, Italian journalist, takes a long, honest and enlightening look in a book that had great success in Italy last year. Americans return from Europe baffled at our unpopularity; this book will help them understand the basis of it, the misconceptions we ourselves foster, the contradictions we ourselves are responsible for. In a combination of social studies, personality sketches, anecdotes, analyses of the changes he found after twenty years, interviews, discussions, ponderings. And the result is immensely readable. The core of his doubt is whether we can face our responsibilities, ""make the shift from the psychology of emergency...to the psychology of the long pull"". While he makes no claim to present a complete composite either of American life or American thought, he does give us one European's impression of American character. It is friendly criticism and full enough of human interest to spark reader response.