try TO o~x" a quarter century ago, it would never have

occurred to most U.S. citizens that the good or bad opinion

of the rest of the world was anything to dwell on, much less

worry about. By whatever standards, this was the land of

the free and the home of the brave. Only a fool would claim

that everything was dandy, but only a misanthrope could

deny that any people in history had been given so clear a

chance to determine their earthly fate or that any nation

had done so much with its opportunity. The U.S. was

bursting at the seams and supremely confident.

Now, when we are midway into the 2oth Century,

something seems to be gnawing away at that confidence.

Never have Americans looked at themselves so hard, never

have they been so bewildered by foreign sniping. In a day

when millions of U.S. tourists have seen the sickening

scrawl, "Yankee Go Home," an examination of what we

are and how others see us is not only inevitable but salutary.

By all odds the most interesting and meaningful starting

point is The American Character, by D. W. Brogan.