[wordy straight-prosed, that not much has changed, even if we exclude
the the rest of the world and its commentators for a moment, but true
…]


THE UNLOVED AMERICAN
by SIMON SCHAMA

Two centuries of alienating Europe.

Issue of 2003-03-10 | Posted 2003-03-03

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030310fa\_fact

On the Fourth of July in 1889, Rudyard Kipling found himself near
Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone with a party of tourists from New
England. He winced as a 'clergyman rose up and told them they were the
greatest, freest, sublimest, most chivalrous, and richest people on the
face of the earth, and they all said Amen.