182
I'A ln lSAN
I~ EVIEW
th e cultural relati ons between Ameri ca and Europe o n mo re literal empir–
ica l ground , as marked o ut by a kn owledgea bl e and fair- minded hi storian .
H e is conce rn ed w ith th eir rel ati o nship from th e time o f th e 1920s,
w hen Ameri can busin ess, to uri sm , j azz, and mov ies became fo rmidabl e
influences in Europe. He moves o n
to
th e work o f the
OWl
in cultural
dipl omacy, the subsidizing by th e R.ockefeller Fo undati o n o f intell ectual
emi gres to Ameri ca, the instituti onali za ti o n in the U.S. I.A . o f th e "symbi–
o ti c relatio nshi p betwee n Ameri ca n cuI ture and Ameri can fo reign policy"
during th e Cold War, and the crea ti o n o f Fulbright Fellowships in a time
o f reve rsa l, when Ameri ca became an "embodiment o f the cosmopolitan
ideal" and Europe fell into the ro le o f being " hopeless ly provincial."
(pells's fo rmulati o n revea ls the persistence o f th e po lari zing habit even in
a sober dem ytho logize r. )
Pells has a do ubl e focus, writing many info rmati ve pages about the
growth o f th e Ameri can Studies movement in Europe and many mo re
about the influence in Europe o f Ameri ca n popular entertainment, which
is excori ated by European intell ec tuals and eagerly consumed by o rdinary
Europeans. It has fo r long been a fa miliar po int that the angui sh of
Europeans about moderni za ti on in their own countri es is o ften di splaced
onto " Ameri caniza ti on ," as in Geo rges ()uhamel 's
A lll eY;{(J the
A 1CI/(/(c : S(CI/CS
FO Il/
t"e
L!/i-
(!f
t"e Future
( 193 1). Pells ill ustrates the theme in many ways, but
the more novel part o f hi s argument is that Europe has been abl e to resist,
modi fY, and adapt thi s"Ameri cani za ti o n" in accordance w ith its own inter–
es ts. He makes a good case wi th edu ca ti o n in pos twa r Cermany, but wh en
Ameri can busin essmen tail o r their produ cts fo r commercial reasons to
European tas tes, as he shows that they do, who has rea ll y do ne the adapting?
Pells also charts the course o f Ameri ca n receptivity to European intel–
lectuals: th e impo rtant impac t o f th e emi g res in th e thirti es and fo rties o n
Ameri can universities, the influence o f 13ritish roc k music and " bl ock–
buster" musical comedi es sin ce th e sixti es; and the Ameri can academic
fasc inati on (even in f;ltuati o n) with French structurali sm , deconstru ction ,
and postmoderni sm in th e seven ties and eighti es. Pells has a ni ce sense o f
iro ny about Ameri can academi a in whi ch "a bun ch of no t-ye t-dead white
Europea n males could even be depl oyed in an assa ult on th e bastions o f
'Eurocentrism ' itself" He is well aware that a new ge neration o f w riters in
France have become mu ch less skeptical th an th eir "a nti - humani st" pre–
decesso rs about rati o nali
ty,
obj ectivi
ty,
and liberal democrati c insti tutiol1S.
If Ameri can academi cs remain largely unaware o f them , European audi–
ences " remained enthrall ed" by reruns o f Ameri ca n TV shows that no
longer appea r o n Ameri can screens.
Pells foresees a new doubl e identity o f " dual all eg iances" : one to local
and nati onal tradi tiOIlS, the other
to
"an internati o nal cui ture and a global
