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In this issue appears the first of several articles by the French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, based on his recent extensive travels in the United States. In the years since 9/11 Americans have come to understand that the United States and its people are often seen by the outside world in ways we did not expect—and in ways sharply different from our perceptions of ourselves, to put it mildly.

This is something Americans need and want to understand. We invited Lévy to come to America and undertake a journey around the country, like a latter-day Alexis de Tocqueville, and report on what he found. Why Lévy? He has broad experience writing about many parts of the world, in keenly observant and idea-inflected prose. Though he has criticized specific U.S. policies over the years, he is fundamentally sympathetic to the American idea, and in recent years has stood robustly against ...