Guus Bosman

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Reizen zonder John

A historian writing a book about current affairs is a risky proposition but for the well-known Dutch author Geert Mak it turned out to be a temptation too great to resist. This is unfortunate since his book about the current state of the United States is deeply flawed, even though it is well written and beautifully combines Mr. Mak's sharp eye for the human aspect of history, a story of a road trip through the USA in 2010 with his deep knowledge of John Steinbeck.

To start with the latter: I loved the way the book was built around the journey by Steinbeck. I purposefully read that book before starting Reizen zonder John and I'm glad I did. Mr. Mak gives a lot of biographical information throughout the book, in which he and his wife partially follow the route Steinbeck took 50 years ago.

Economics

The author excels in the describing the history of people, towns and cities. He is great in painting human life and how the economic shift from countryside to cities has influenced the social landscape of both. He famously wrote "Hoe God verdween uit Jorwerd", a must-read book for everybody interested in modern history in the Netherlands. However, based on his observations through the journey he also tries to draw big conclusions about what is happening in the entire USA, and his analysis falls short in several places. This is almost inevitable. The scale of the country is quite possibly too large to cover in a single book. In any case, it is much harder for outsiders -- and even harder when talking about recent history.

This brings me to my biggest problem with the book. What is unfortunate is that Mr. Mak marks the Big Recession from 2007 onwards the end of the American optimism, and the end of the economic resilience of the country. As a professional historian he should know that it is very dangerous to try to draw conclusions based on current affairs. As of March 2013, the economy is starting to rebound and proving a big part of his conclusions wrong. Yes, there are many towns in the USA where work has disappeared -- but this is nothing new and is part of the dynamic of a free society. I'm not trying to downplay the human cost of this -- it definitely comes at a high price for individuals involved -- but to look at Detroit and New Orleans, and small cities in the Rust Belt, and then conclude that the USA has lost its mojo is missing the point.

Politics

On a political level, Mr. Mak's liberalism and pacifism are clear, and he therefore does not think the emphasis in the USA on military power makes sense: "American politicians deny that the [American] Imperium has to function within the 21e century, a new century with problems -- climate, money movements, arm races -- that can only be solved with international rules and collaboration. They worldview is essential 19th century, their hero is still a type of Teddy Roosevelt". I suppose my worldview and that of Mr. Mak differ here. Definitely, global warming needs more attention from the United States -- but I am very happy that the USA still has the equivalent of a conventional army as well.

His analysis of "what is wrong" in America is that of a very liberal Democrat. He bemoans the influence of money in politics and the loss of jobs in labor intensive areas. He states that Mr. Obama "hesitated to regulate" the banking industry. I agree with some of his statements, but this is the partisan view of a liberal, no the dispassionate view of a historian, and it diminishes the analysis. It completely ignores the strengths of the USA -- a very dynamic and resilient economy with a strong rule of law. This is not the place for a full economic analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the USA compared to, let's say, Europe -- but the book doesn't provide a good analysis either and just gives a superficial overview of things that are no longer what they used to be.

The increased individuality in society is not unique to the USA and sometimes it feels that the author is longer back for "how life used to be" -- a trap that Steinbeck, at least in his book, was able to avoid for the most part.

The Dutch in America

Sometimes the Dutch background of the author shows true -- the dislike of the sound of air-conditioning, the love for a British newsreader on the Canadian radio ("long live the CBC!"). He writes beautifully and his stories about local history and his adventures throughout the country are very nicely written. His visit to a church in Michigan, a Netherlands Reformed Church no less, is very funny and he recognizes the rituals as similar to those in the 1950's in the Netherlands.

Aiming for a Brilliant Book

Mr. Mak rightly points out the two major black items in American history: slavery and the treatment of American Indians. But he missed the point when he says that it's "surprising that Americans took over so little from the Indians", contrasted with "Europeans" who used to incorporate items of the local people. "In the current USA there are hardly any traces left of Indian culture". According to him this signifies that the American thoughts that Indians didn't belong here. This is an example of where the lack of background knowledge of Mr. Mak hurts. I don't deny his bigger points: that the treatment of American Indians has been shameful, and that indeed there has been a consistent policy of pushing way the "inconvenient" Indians. But there are certainly still traces of Indian culture in mainstream USA (arguably more than say, Dutch traces) -- but more to the point, the fact that there aren't a whole lot has simply to do with numbers.

The author refers to another book like his, by Simon Schama, a famous British historian who wrote a classic history book on the Dutch Golden Age, among other things. It is interesting that the New York Times review Mr. Schama's book and has very similar concerns with Mr. Schama's book as I have with Mr. Mak's. In their professional words:

"Schama toured the country in an election year and went to a few rallies — Obama, Clinton. McCain, Romney. He did the megachurch thing, apparently coming away with the impression that the Christian Coalition is still a vibrant organization. He measured the sensibilities of his candidates and found, as you’d expect, that Barack Obama was very much to his liking.

The modern reportage is pretty thin, and as you are reading these pas­sages your main interest is in figuring out how he is going to segue from the present, which is his service to the publishing industry, to the past, where his real talent lies. "

Once safely in history and liberated from the insufferable demands of the Brilliant Book genre, Schama is of course quite good. His specialty is finding interesting midlevel characters from the buried mounds of history and telling their stories.

That analysis is spot on, and could have been written for Mr. Mak's book.

The book is a bit of a homecoming for me. I have always admired Mr. Mak -- and still do, even after reading this flawed book -- but I know that my outlook on life has changed considerably, during and while my adoption to my new home country. I was interested to see how, 10 years after leaving the Netherlands, I would feel when one of my favorite authors writes about my new home country. This book, written by one of my old Dutch hero's, confronts me with the differences there are now between me and the liberal consensus in the Netherlands.

This book shows three things: Mr. Mak's masterful ability to make history come alive, Mr. Mak's deep love for America, and the incredible difficulty of trying to objectively capture the soul of America in a single book.

ISBN: 
978-9045020846
language: 
Dutch
Author: 
Geert Mak
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