Notes on a Foreign Country

An American Abroad in a Post-American World

By: Suzy Hansen

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

In the wake of the September 11 attacks and the US-led invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen, who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey, was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul. Hansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a mythical city perched between East and West, and with a naïve sense of the Islamic world beyond. Over the course of her many years of living in Turkey and traveling in Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, she learned a great deal about these countries and their cultures and histories and politics. But the greatest, most unsettling surprise would be what she learned about her own country - and herself, an American abroad in the era of American decline. It would take leaving her home to discover what she came to think of as the two Americas: the country and its people, and the experience of American power around the world.

©2017 Suzy Hansen (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Laughably biased

Alternate headline: American liberal discovers the dangers of government. This book is a cute story about an American liberal who travels to the Middle East and discovers the evils that American governments have done in collusion with foreign governments. Throughout the story she talks to wonderful people who understand the dangers of government. In the end she somehow concludes that the world is an ugly place because of white supremacists and Donald Trump (?)

Sadly she missed the entire point that these people would not be able to flaunt their supposed supremacy without government. In the end she was never able to get past her New York liberal biases.

Hard but Must read for ALL Americans

I should probably be giving thus book 5 stars based on content & if I Audible allowed. I would give it 4.5 stars.

This book was a hard read for me, not because of the writing but because it busted my fantasy of the USA. I still love my country (the USA) however after this read I look at it differently. I must say I don't believe everything she said about the USA & some of the other countries' events (maybe & probably naively so) but wow the things I did learned & look at differently (because i read this book) are significant.

Perspectives on how the world sees us

and how we see ourselves as Americans We are no longer a superpower in the world

One of the most transformative books I have ever read!

This is an an amazing, eye-opening book. I will never think the same again about America's role in the world again.

5 Stars. Highly recommended!
--The Rev. Stephen York

Orgasms for your brain

Powerful and vivid language. That Pulitzer finalist is well deserved. You could say the book is extreme in its critique of American hegemony and imperialism. However, it's the kind of extremity necessary to shake people to their consciousness, for them to recognize and reflect on the myths they grew up with, and to reckon with their future. In that sense, the book is almost an alarm, written with the kind of moral urgency much demanded from white Americans and those socialized as white Americans.

A View from Outside

An interesting and necessary take on America that should be required reading for a!l of us. Whether you agree or not with the outsider view of our country, you should ,at least, grow to understand why many foreigners feel the way they do about the United States and much of our mythic ' history'.

Why isn’t this taught in schools? Or even discussed more—

Often uncomfortable and previously unknown facts of how we Americans are seen by rest of world, especially Middle East and omg Greece. The section on Iran and then Greece was not what we’ve heard before in most U.S. accounts. Just wrenching. I’ve known from my own travels how well other countries know history and our own reputation for ignorance. This book takes it up several notches and yet seems to have died away, proving the point that Americans must be spoon fed & even then will soon forget. I’ll be rereading this. It’s a short history of certain countries like we’ve never heard of— from the countries we crushed. Cf Hershey’s Hiroshima. 5 stars. All Americans should read.

Timely read on Muslim perception of the U.S .

This book I think is written primarily for Americans seeking a better understanding of the role of the US in the Middle East. She does this in a most effective way by writing about her own transformation and understanding of the Muslim world and why we have failed to understand it. Much of this is gleaned from the relationships she formed during her years living as a journalist in Istanbul as well as her travels in the region. This book challenged my own thinking and I feel gave me a better understanding of the history in this region and the US's role in complicating it. This has been one of my favorite books this year. Frankly I am at a loss to find other books on this region that are as moving as this one.

Great insight a little too one sided

Yes we Americans enjoy innocence and wealth through exploitation of others. Yes we should be more empathetic and do less harm. Yes we should recognize our sordid past in more truthful manner. Still I think she needs to acknowledge some strengths in our systems and governance that slow us to correct and be less abusive than other empires
The book itself is very well written with great information on her subject

Insightful, interesting and eye-opening - must read for all Americans

What an insightful journey this book has been. I wish everyone in America read it