Listening to the interview is simply fun. Marshall Poe is a very inspiring interviewer. He is genuinely excited about the book. He has insights in the subject, but makes sure that it is Hendershot who is talking. And talking he does. In a smooth and natural fashion we get from his background to the making of this book. It turns out he already had the feeling that the close relationship of the US with the Brits was more one of a cultural, perceived than of a political, established kind, but the point is: how do you prove such.The US and the UK have had, at times, bad relationship from a political standpoint. Like for example in 1956 during the Suez Crisis. So how can you show that even then, the two countries feel connected and the storm will pass quickly? It just so happens that because of the Cold War the US government invested in research compiling statistical data about the people's perception of other nations, inside and outside the US. Hendershot had access to these archives and could stave his ideas with hard data.
More NBIH:
Samuel Kassow and the Warsaw Ghetto history,
Ronald Reagan,
Prokofiev,
Evolution, genetics and history,
Kees Boterbloem about Jan Struys.
2 comments:
I actually own this book, and I loved every second of it. The lingering effects of the parent/child dynamic between the US and Great Britain and the role reversal on the world stage as America rose from fledgling nation to empire status to lone superpower, even as the UK suffered its own decline is fascinating, and this book takes a snapshot of one of the key periods of this transition. It sort of makes you wonder, in another hundred years, where things will stand, and will the affection between the two most prominent English-speaking countries remain strong?
That is really interesting. It sounds like the book is just as much fun as the interview on NBIH was.
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