This book has been recently translated to Portuguese language for those readers who are interested in other languages. It is called: "A Obsessão Antiamericana - Causas e Conseqüências" edited by UniverCidade do Rio de Janeiro and could be found in Europe for $ 13.95 euros.

At last, In France, a voice raises against the stream of the anti-americanism " well-thinking ". French believe they invented the Human Rights but, despite Voltaire, Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Bastiat, and many others, they ignored the essence of the liberalism. From communists to nationalists, including socialists and gaullists, they misunderstand the spirit of America.
This book, with a gentle sense of humour, and many opportune references, is a source of jubilation. One by one, all the bloody stupidities and insanities accumulated since so many years, fall in dust. And little by little, JF Revel shapes a righter image of this great nation to which we so much owe. A true event in the briny marsh of the generally accepted ideas !
It should be hoped that this comforting speech will contribute to let american people know that some french hold them in great esteem, and cherish with them, Democracy and Freedom !

Now that we are in the middle of an other crisis between the U.S. and the rest of the World, Mr. Revel's book comes in handy to put things in their just perspective.

Like Reagan when he asked Gorbatchev to "tear down that wall", Bush has been ridiculed from the beginning in many countries, particularly in France. He's been called a "cowboy", "simplist", etc. According to "Old Europe", he should have listened to them, with their great experience... After all, they know about human tragedies... They had two World Wars, two of the greatest fascists of History -- Hitler and Stalin --, a never-ending mess in the Balkans... Quite a résumé to say the least...
They obviously are the ones who how to handle such things.

Mr. Revel will tell it better than me. The book is well documented, to the point. He great read to anybody who wants to make his opinion and understand how the world came to show such division in the face of grave danger.

Revel shows the major paradox of the 20th century. When we have a vast array of information at our fingertips, we simply overlook the truth out there and embrace the lies given. He shows that Democracies only thrive in an aura of truth but they will ultimately fail in a arena of lies. He poignantly shows how the politicians, scientists, educators and the media give up truth to follow their own agenda propagated by fallacies.

I have long enjoyed Revel's perspective, which really is hard to define: he is at once of the left and yet a relentless critic of European pretention of a monopoly on progressivism. His sarcasm is so biting, his vision so clear - if often dead flat wrong as when he predicted the Soviet Union would win the cold war - that I have been entertained as much as I have learned from reading his books and columns. His is a truly great writer.

With this book, you get to know that man and his times. WHile brilliant and capable of incredible discipline, he lets on that he was not a serious student and hence was not made of the stuff of academics. Because I like him, I enjoyed learning all the details of his life, from his beginnings in Marseille, to his entry into the Ecole Normale - where Sartre and Aron studied with many of the most eminent French writers of the 20C - to his briliant career as a journalist. He did very interesting things, from introducing Luis Bunuel's Mexican period to a mass audience to helping the writer of Papillon to become a household name in the 197os to hanging out with opium smokers in the Hotel Regina in the 1950s (the first hotel I stayed in in Paris and so a special treat). Of course, he was also in the French resistance in a minor way! You read of the genesis of his many books, which included philosophy, lit crit, political polemics, gastronomy, and many other subjects. Then there is his combat as an editor of the distinguished weekly magazine L'Express with the ideologically rigid extreme left, which he takes up with the most remarkable gusto and humor.

This can serve as a history of the political ideas of the second half of the 20C with a perspective that many Americans will enjoy, admire, and undersatnd, which these days is more difficult than one would care to imagine. I read in on moving back to Europe after an absence of 15 years and enjoyed every single page.

Warmly recommended.

I found that this book contained a number important points that we may be forgetting now that the Cold War is fading into history. In particular, Revel focuses on how the totalitarian Soviet government had a great number of advantages over the western democracies, and how these advantages were used time and time again to ensure small but inevitable victories over the west. Most important were the Soviet's abilities to avoid media coverage of, and internal and external criticism for, its acts; its ability to embark on courses of actions which are not politically expedient, but will bear fruit decades hence; and its ability to be the aggressor.

Such advantages lead the Soviets to a number of small victories over the fifty-year war. Revel correctly pointed out that the west really had few victories over the Soviets before the communist economy finally crumbled a decade ago. For example, the Cuban missile crisis and the Korean war were merely draws for the west, precisely because everything returned to how it was before. Yet Vietnam and Poland were clear victories for the Soviets.

This is a solid work that accurately points out some of the weaknesses of democracies when fighting against totalitarians, and just how close we came to losing the struggle against communism.

This book was excellant. I enjoyed the contrary veiws. Having a contrary thought every now and then is very refreshing. Like his other book, Totalitarian Temptation, this one gives a lot of thought on the problems that liberty, freedom and equality bring. I recommend it for debate, high school and college, and suggest it to anyone who feels that no government is perfect. It tends to be wordy, but that almost makes it better, or at least, gives many different ways to interpet his ideas. His arguements at first appear opposite of American beleifs, but if you really concentrate and want to read it, it will give you an excellant understanding of goverment.

This is a wonderful book about the US during the turmoil of the 1960s and early 1970s. It makes many of the same points that "Greening AMerica" did, but from the perspective of a European. Revel believed (rightly in my opinion) that the US was engaged in a fundamental experiment of the kind of society it wanted to be, an impetus coming from the bottom rather than from the top elite. He took a sympathetic view of the youth revolt in the US, which he saw as far less ideological than their counterparts elsewhere and hence more open-minded and practical. He may have been right.

The particlar fun of this book is the way he punctured European, and particularly French, pretentions to hold a monopoly on the progressive left. He applied acid sarcasm and hilarious examples of their prejudices against the US, which sound so petty today. Indeed, he shows them up for the snobs and hypocrits that they still are with great wit.

ALong the way, he makes many points that hit home, such as, it is not what is done that is necessarily most important, but the process and ability to change things democratically that is. That was the great gem of wisdom that I took away from this splendid book, when I read it 23 years ago. Revel's is a unique and talented voice. It is a pity more of his books are not translated nto English. His recent memoire, available only in French, is truly brilliant as well.

Innocent people in america should have the opportunity to read" the real revolution that is about to came to the end " Reven is the voice of the last generation of the this century,God send messengers to protect life, after Reven many Angels were born on the fifties and Serafins are and will take care life on Earth.............infinitly.........

The Monk and the Philosopher Gautama Buddha like Socrates used dialogue as his favorite method of teaching. This book also follows the Buddhas footsteps in being a dialogue between two highly intelligent individuals who happen to be father and son. The father is Jean-Francois Revel a leading French philosopher and Mathieu Ricard, a scientist turned Buddhist monk. Their conversation lasted for 10 days and covered a very wide range of Buddhist issues. Initially, the discussion focused on the controversial subject of whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. The monk explained that it is more a philosophy than a religion, because it is not a dogma and allows flexibility of ideas. Moreover, it is a product of human mind who never made any claims to divinity. In fact the Buddha emphasized that his teachings be not accepted if wanting in logic and rationality. The acceptance of ideas should be like purchasing gold, the Buddha said. Before purchasing gold, "we rub it on a flat stone pound it with hammer and melt it in fire", so also every doctrine must be thoroughly examined for its validity and truthfulness. The collected sayings of Buddha (known as Sutras) cover one hundred and three volumes of the Tibetan canon, the Kangur. This is accompanied by another two hundred and thirteen volumes of commentaries written by eminent teachers and scholars. The reason for such a huge collection is the length of the time the Buddha taught without break from the age of thirty until his death at eighty. Although vast in its totality the core teachings are quiet concise. They analyze the most important problem faced by mankind - that of suffering. By suffering the Buddha meant mental anguish or agony, which is a translation of the word Dukha in Pali. According to the Buddha suffering arises when the self or the 'me' that we cherish is threatened and denied its wishes. The usual goals in life of power, wealth, fame and sensual pleasure, give only temporary satisfaction. One day or another they turn into sources of unhappiness. Pursuing purely earthly goals we have no more chance of attaining true happiness, "than a fisherman has of catching fish, by throwing his net into a dry riverbed." The Buddha warns that, "if you keep your hand in fire, it is no use hoping that you won't get burnt." The only way to save your hand is to take it out of the fire. The book briefly covers the remedy, which the Buddha advocates to overcome suffering. As suffering is born out of greed, ignorance, attachment, hatred, pride and jealousy they should be discarded and replaced by thoughts of virtue, loving kindness and compassion. The book does not describe the techniques of meditation in any detail, as this was not very appropriate for the purpose of discussion, but the basic principle is explained, which is to maintain awareness of the present moment, free of any discursive thoughts. Gradually, the meditator becomes better and better in the process and the negative thoughts become weaker and weaker and loose their confining solidity. Eventually, the process of 'liberation' occurs, when even if the negative thoughts arise, they pass through the mind without effect, "like drawing made on the surface of water". The mastery of the mind gives patience, and patience gives strength to act correctly, without being blinded by anger, revenge and aggression. A spiritually developed mind is also able to see reality as it exists, whether good or bad, without getting overwhelmed by emotion. To illustrate this a Zen poem is quoted which reads, "To her lover, a beautiful women is a source of delight; to an ascetic a distraction; to a wolf a good meal." A brief section concerns the most esoteric of Buddhist doctrines, which in Sunyata or emptiness. In it, it is claimed that visible world does not have any concrete existence or form. The concerned sutra states, "Emptiness is form and form is emptiness", implying that in final analysis the world does not have any intrinsic reality. If atoms are not "things", as Heisenberg states, then how can their accumulation in form of visible objects, become things? The closest modern physics comes to Sunyata is that, "Matter is energy and energy is matter". If all matter turns into energy then that would be emptiness in the physical sense. Buddha did not try to 'convert' anyone, as in reality there is nothing to convert to! The contemplative aspects of Buddhism are common to all religious. Its analytical approach leads to the understanding of the mind - useful for person of any denomination. The philosopher sums up his impressions by stating the west has trimphed in science, but wisdom is not based on scientific certitude, and scientific certitude does not lead to wisdom. Both are separate but indispensable for the welfare and well being of mankind. The monk sums up by stating that such a dialogue is useful, but can never be a substitute for the silence of personal experience, as Goethe had aptly stated, "silence allows nature to whisper to us". Through those whispers we learn the purpose of life. DR. VIQAR ZAMAN

It's hard to find a good intellectual book on Buddhism. Many of the books out there are either written in the lighter "self help" style, are tartgeted at more serious practitioners or are a little too Zen for me to grasp without building some context first. For someone like myself, exploring Buddhism as an alternative or supplement to my traditonal protestant upbringing, I've been looking for a book that both (i) presents Buddhist philosophy in a Western context that I can relate to and (ii) keeps the discussion on a more intellectual/philosophical level. This book delievers. Make no mistake, the subject matter is pretty dense. However, the book delighfully readable due largely to it's "dialogue" format. Both father and son and eloquent, thoughtful and respectful communicators and tend to get right into the issues of interest to me just as I begin to wonder if they are going to touch on them. As a result, I felt a definite affinity with the authors. After reading several other books on Buddhism, I finally feel as though I have a foundation for understanding it. I have built my context and now I want to learn more. For that I am grateful and highly recommend this book.

This is a dialogue between father and son, father a prominent journalist and philosopher and son a scientist, who renounced his promising career and became a Buddhist monk,it is East and West getting together. They are two brilliant minds discussing a wide range of topics with an honest and unbiased approach, in a very accessible and elucidating style. Since the book has been written from a Western perspective and maily for Western readers, Buddhism is highly questioned and as a result the reader is presented with an excellent introduction to Buddhism as a religion and philosophy as well. The main point here is not a confrontation between East and West, between Reason and Faith; it is an excellent exchange of ideas with the purpose of finding what is best from both approaches and what would best serve future generations. Excellent, fascinating, enlightening, highly recommended!

The thesis of this book is simple: Democracy, while good in itself, is ill equipped to deal with the threat posed by non-democratic polities because it has a persistent tendency to self delusion about the nature and goals of non-democratic states. Thus it tends to undermine the conditions that favor it's own survival and spread to other societies. Given the recent revelation of how American policy in the Middle East has failed, this book would be excellent reading for anyone interested in the ways the West shoots itself in the foot when dealing with others.