"In this two-hundred-page book of essays Rob Kroes, one of the most respected representatives of American studies in Europe, offers his reflections on just about everything connecting the two continents these days: human rights, cyberspace, nativism, the meaning of family photographs, Alexis de Tocqueville, the decline of the welfare state, and much more."
Dorothee Schneider, Journal of American History ... Read more"Right on target, an invaluable guide to a culturally interconnected world."
Richard H. Collin, International History Review. "One of [Kroes's] central questions is how culture and politics act to create and sustain collective identities in the context of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the formation of the European Union. If you need to ask what this has to do with American studies
the dialetic between unity and diversity
you also need the book because it raises the discussion to a higher level."
Bernard Mergen, American Studies International ADVANCE PRAISE "Based on a lifetime of study and observation by one of Europe's leading Americanists, Them and Us is a masterful collection of reflections that will interest an American studies audience in the United States and around the world. Kroes's book will become a signal achievement in the globalization of American studies."
Robert W. Rydell, author of All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916 "This is a superb book, the work of an imaginative and inventive, as well as a transatlantic, social and cultural critic. It is a real contribution to our understanding of how America differs from Europe and what impact globalization has had and will have in affecting these differences."
Richard Pells, author of Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture Since World War II "Rob Kroes's book addresses the buzzword 'globalization' from a most refreshing perspective. Kroes is worldly, well read, and erudite, a sociologist who eschews the jargon of the discipline while retaining a sociological imagination. Them and Us is packed with insights and ideas
quite wonderful to read."
Peter I. Rose, author of They and We Show Less