Is America Different? A New Look at American Exceptionalism. (book reviews)

In his contribution to Is America Different? Daniel Bell quotes the psychologist Henry Murry: "everyone is in some sense the same as everybody else; everyone is in some sense the same as somebody else; and everyone is in some sense the same as nobody else." This is the wisdom of universals, which tells us everything and nothing. It applies, for example, to both books under review, but it does not speak to the fact that one is mediocre and the other outstanding; it applies to Bell's essay in a way that conceals the essay's extraordinary richness and depth; and it applies to ...