The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe are Alike By Peter Baldwin Oxford University Press. 2009. 336 pages. $24.94 cloth, $19.95 paper

Abstract

Many consider the United States and Europe fundamentally different societies, sharing few commonalities on virtually every dimension possible, including culture, politics and sexuality. Historian Peter Baldwin offers a different take on this popular notion, arguing that the United States and Europe are not that different after all. He is interested in correcting the bias of “liberal American social scientists,” (238) who frequently look to the European welfare state as an ideal model of social welfare and superior to the meager American welfare state. His main argument is that the differences between the United States and Europe are differences of degree, rather than kind, and that the United States frequently falls comfortably within the European spectrum. To support the argument, the book includes 17 chapters with descriptive statistics on topics as diverse as the economy, health care, the welfare state, crime, education, the environment, civil society, nationalism, assimilation, religion and science. Baldwin offers an impressive amount of quantitative data with more than 200 graphs illustrating differences (or lack thereof) between the United States and Europe. This is particularly impressive given that comparable quantitative data is often difficult to come by, and the author more or less appears to rely on acknowledged, reliable sources, including data from the OECD and the International Social Survey Programme. Given the enormous amount of information, the author does a fine job of synthesizing the main points associated with each graph and the book is an interesting read.