Description: An ambitious, original book describing a century of Europe coping with America: its inventions, personalities, films, armies, business, and politics. These decades reveal how much emotional energy Europeans invested in finding their own ways to reconcile tradition and modernity under the pressure of the ever-evolving American challenge.
Review Quotes: "This highly commendable addition to Oxford's History of Modern Europe series examines the US 'role as a model of modernity' for Europe from the late 19th century to the early 21st century. The author effectively marshals an impressive array of sources, conveniently footnoted, to support a wide-ranging examination of shifting European perspectives on the 'American Way.' Admirably written and convincingly argued. Essential."--CHOICE
"Ellwood's interpretation of American culture's vigor and innovation as a self-renovating soft power since World War II is consistently interesting."--The Journal of American History"This is a book that will be of great interest to anyone who has been grappling with one of the most intriguing problems of the twentieth century."--Diplomatic History"This is a central text for anyone who seeks to study Europe's fractured relationship with modernity or to understand the relationship between America and Western Europe in the modern world...Its scope is massive, resting on the analysis of hundreds of scholarly works in at least four languages and drawing from substantial, wide-ranging, original research."--IAmerican Historical Review