Why America Is Such a Hard Sell

Juliana Geran Pilon teaches politics and culture at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. The author of The Bloody Flag and Notes From the Other Side of Night, her writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, The National Interest, The Freeman, Humanitas, and many other publications both in the United States and abroad. Born in Romania, she received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, then held post-doctoral fellowships in international affairs at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and the Institute of Humane Studies. During the 1990s she was Vice President of Programs at IFES (International Foundation for Election Systems) and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Juliana Pilon brings substantial doses of international political experience and wisdom to bear on the vexing question of how America can do a better job of making itself understood in the world. Her ideas cut across stale partisan lines of debate and offer a host of practical ways for moving forward.

• Chapter 1 Preface: On a Personal NoteChapter 2 Why America is Such a Hard Sell: An OverviewChapter 3 Introduction: America's Mixed LegacyPart 4 I. Why America is Such a Hard SellChapter 5 1. How Can You Tell?Chapter 6 2. It's Them, Not UsChapter 7 3. Consumerism Uber AllesChapter 8 4. Empire Lite and Not-So-LiteChapter 9 5. Watch Out for the EntertainmentChapter 10 6. The Nonstarter Solutions: More Pride and PrejudicePart 11 II. The Legacy of PrideChapter 12 7. History of a ParadoxChapter 13 8. Americans Self-Exiled to Self-SufficiencyChapter 14 9. Exceptionalist NationalismChapter 15 10. Too Proud to Play Hardball at the U.N.Chapter 16 11. Strategic Public Diplomacy: Just for Dummies?Chapter 17 12. The Price of PridePart 18 III. The Legacy of PrejudiceChapter 19 13. Why Learn about Others?Chapter 20 14. No Place Like HomeChapter 21 15. Biased against IntelligencePart 22 IV. Public Diplomacy the Hard WayChapter 23 16. Soft Power for Softies?Chapter 24 17. Misreading MachiavelliChapter 25 18. Speakers-in-Chief Define the New WorldChapter 26 19. Presidential Highlights from the Three World WarsChapter 27 20. Post-Cold War Semantic ImpassePart 28 V. Opting for Sense and SensibilityChapter 29 21. Is the United States Really Such a "Hard Sell"?Chapter 30 22. Global Strategic Outreach: Doing It RightChapter 31 23. False Sensibility vs. True SenseChapter 32 24. The Five (or Six) Basic Rules of Global Strategic OutreachChapter 33 Conclusion: Not for Sale