This thought-provoking work explores a political shift that has transformed the concept of American exceptionalism into one of American superiority in recent decades. The author, raised in Paris by a French mother and a Kenyan father and a graduate of American universities,brings the invaluable perspective of an insider-outsiderto the double-edged impact of exceptionalist ideology on both the United States and the world.With a combination of appreciation and skepticism, he recognizes the positive exceptionalism of America as a 'city on a hill' as well as a negative insularity that has made the United States an outlier among Western democracies on issues ranging from capital punishment to international human rights treaties.-Susan Jacoby, author of bestsellerThe Age of American Unreason ukryj opis