Presents a foreigner's assessment of the nearexistentialist struggle currently gripping American society and how it might be alleviated, examining whether consumer society has stamped a sameness on Americans and whether the perennial claim of American exceptionalism can still be justified.
Jorge G. Casta~neda was Foreign Minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003. In 1997, he was appointed Global Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies at New York University. He has been a Member of the Board of Human Rights Watch since 2003. In April 2008, Casta~neda was elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and International Member of the American Philosophical Society. He has more than 15 books published in the United States and elsewhere, including Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara.