How The World Sees America with Mark Hertsgaard

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Only 14% of American citizens hold active passports. In a profound sense, most U.S. citizens are insulated from the realties of the rest of the world. Even with worldwide communication technologies, the major U.S. media filters out much of what goes on beyond American borders, only focusing on major events. Here, a former overseas journalist and writer, Mark Hertsgaard, speaks of how others around the world see the United States. This is an especially relevant dialogue in light of U.S. Government action since the events of 9/11. (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Mark Hertsgaard provides media commentary for National Public Radio.

He is the author of several books including:

• Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future (Broadway Books 1998)
• The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World (Farrar Straus & Giroux 2002)

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• How the exercise of your citizen rights can shift policy
• How economic globalization spreads American materialism to impoverished young people worldwide
• How the values of the Reagan administration are still present
• What are the dangers of U.S. unilateralism in the eyes of other peoples
• Why has dissent and opposition been attached and minimized in Congress and the country