Books That Germans Are Reading about America

Books That Germans Are Reading about AmericaAuthor(s): Ralph LewisSource: The Library Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Oct., 1959), pp. 246-250Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4304926 .

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BOOKS THAT GERMANS ARE READING ABOUT AMERICA

RALPH LEWIS

W E HILE browsing in one of Ham- burg's larger bookstores re- cently, I noticed what I con-

sidered a rather large number of non- fiction books dealing with the United States. My curiosity aroused, I sought out the store manager. "Does your shop specialize in books about the United States?" I asked. "Not any more than most shops," he answered. Then he added, "The stock we carry is determined by the interests of our customers, and our customers want books about America."

This experience prompted the present survey. Its basic design included (a) the compilation of a list of twenty of the most popular non-fiction books about America currently being bought and read in Germany; (b) an analysis of each book in terms of the possible effect that it might have on the reader's attitude toward the United States; (c) the establishment of a rank order of popularity of the books which might suggest general German attitudes toward the United States.

The book list was compiled with the aid of public librarians, university pro- fessors, newspaper reviews, and lay readers. When completed, it included ten books written by Germans, four by Americans, two by Britishers, two by Frenchmen, one by a Swiss, and one by a citizen of East Germany. In subject matter, seven of the twenty books dealt primarily with the American character, eight treated American political life,

three emphasized American economics, one discussed religion in America, and one explored the semantics of typically American terms.

Classification was determined by the answer to the question "How will a reading of this book affect the average person's attitude toward the United States?" If it was felt that the book would make the reader feel sympathetic toward the United States, it was rated positive; if the book would probably affect the reader's attitude adversely, it was rated negative; if the book was like- ly to do neither, it was rated neutral.

Popularity ratings of the selected books were provided by the managers of four Hamburg bookstores selected as representative. They included Ham- burg's largest and perhaps best-known bookstore, known throughout the city for its wide stock and its mass sales; a medium-sized bookstore which catered to upper-class customers and dealt in art objects as well as books; a neighbor- hood bookstore in a fairly good residen- tial area, catering especially to a middle- class clientele; and a popular bookstore, located in Hamburg's main railroad sta- tion, especially serving members of labor unions and individuals with no special attachment to a particular bookstore. A book considered outstandingly popular was given a rating of 5; if a book was in good demand, it was rated 4; books which were selling only moder- ately well were rated 3; books selling less well, 2; books selling very poorly, 1;

246



BOOKS THAT GERMANS ARE READING ABOUT AMERICA 247

while books not selling at all were rated 0. Each book was rated separately for 1957 and 1958.

FINDINGS

The book which occupied top position on the Hamburg rating scale was a volume classified neutral, Die Amerikaner ("The Americans"), by the English an- thropologist Geoffrey Gorer. Although the book is by no means a scathing criticism of the American personality, the evident relish with which the author hammers away at everything American suggests an undercurrent of prejudice. The book apparently appeals to the reader who enjoys seeing heroes "cut down to size." Also contributing to the book's popularity is the fact that it is available in Germany in a paper-back edition that costs only DM. 1.90, about 45 cents in American money.

The second most popular book, this one classified positive, is Der ameri- kanischer Geist ("The American Spir- it") by Gustav Blanke, a German. Al- though designed especially for linguists, the book nevertheless appeals widely to the average German reader. By present- ing a semantic investigation into the American language, the author traces the history of such concepts as "Amer- ica," "New World," "Civilization," "'Liberty," "Unity,"' and "Democracy." The American flavor is provided by quotes from addresses, articles, letters, and other writings of Jefferson, Lincoln, Paine, Henry Adams, and Emerson, among others.

Slightly behind the Blanke book in general appeal but steadily growing in popularity is another positive book, a small volume of 54 pages called In Amerika ist alles anders ("Everything Is Different in America") by the emi- nent German theologian Helmut Thie-

lecke. Writing in an easy style, the author describes and evaluates American institutions, customs, and people. His stated intention--to be fair-is demon- strated by the fact that he treats differences between European and American customs and points of view by frequent- ly pointing out the advantages on each side. However, the author is not uncom- mitted. He likes America and makes no bones about the fact. His general point of view is reflected in his last sentence: "Although the Americans are different, I like them the way they are."

In fourth place is still another positive volume, 48 malAmerika ("48 Times America") by the Frenchman Cartier. Here the author, a well-known reporter on the staff of France's most widely cir- culated magazine, Match, describes the economic and technical development of each of the forty-eight states. His theme, developed with vivid style, is that Amer- ica's similarities with Europe are great- er than the differences. Slightly on the wane in 1958 compared with the very high demand for the book in 1957, the volume remains an excellent instrument for bringing understanding of America to the German reading public.

Rating fifth in popularity among the German readers is a neutral book called How Do You Like America? by the well- known modern German poet Rudolph Hagelstange. The book is a potpourri of impressions, and inconsistent in literary quality to boot. For instance, the essay on "A Service in a Negro Church" is excellent in word color and tone; on the other hand, the account of the author's visit to Ezra Pound, though understand- ably a deeply emotional experience, con- tains neither poetry nor objectivity. Per- haps the strongest objection to the book is that it reflects a closed mind. A Euro- pean need not develop an affection for



248 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

America on his first trip, but when the author says that he returned to Europe more European than ever, one suspects that he set out on his trip determined to return with exactly that feeling.

Close behind the Hagelstange book, in sixth position, is another neutral book called Amerika-Tag und Nacht ("America-Day and Night") by the French existentialist Simone de Beau- voir. Ostensibly an exposition of the American character, the book is actually the author's response to a very limited section of American life. She reports ob- servations focused on French emigre in- tellectuals, avant-gardists, writers, mov- ies, cocktail parties, and the Negro question as presented to her by her friend and guide, Richard Wright. Though the book has much charm, it is scarcely an intelligent introduction to the United States.

Golo Mann's book Vom Geist Ameri- kas ("The Spirit of America"), classified positive, was seventh on the Ham- burg popularity list. Concerned essen- tially with political problems, the book offers a thoughtful and readable analysis of American thought and action in the twentieth century. Mann's excellent discussion of American political power and the American way of life takes into consideration the historical development of present conditions and the outside in- fluences that helped to shape them. The book is not devoid of criticism, but the criticisms are constructive. Mann's own summation, "Despite some shortcom- ings, there is no richer reservoir of good will in the world than in the United States," states his main thesis.

Book number eight, classified negative, is Die Zukunft hat schon begon- nen ("The Future Has Already Be- gun") by the Swiss Robert Jungk. The book, which sold almost 150,000 before

it went out of print in 1957, is the author's evaluation of the rocket-launch- ing areas, atomic-bomb tests, and "iso- lated atomic cities" which he visited in the United States. Having seen all this, the author asks the question: "Where does it all lead to?" In his answer he charges that the United States is trying to re-create the cosmos by means of man-made inventions, superorganiza- tions, and superefficiency. The price of this achievement, he thinks, is individual freedom. He sees in the American development a strong trend toward to- talitarianism of the type described in Orwell's Animal Farm. Two contradic- tory qualities seem to stand out in the book: the sincerity with which it was written and the illogicalities of his de- ductions and inferences.

In ninth place is a positive volume, Fremde Freunde ("Foreign Friends") by Peter van Zahn, well-known German radio and television script writer who has been in the United States on assign- ment during the last seven years. The book is a witty, sometimes nonchalant, but always sympathetic analysis of American character and customs. It swings along in a friendly, informal manner, making intelligent and pleasing reading, carrying the same warm charm which had made the author's radio and television scripts popular programs in Germany.

The tenth book on the list, and the second of the two negative books exam- ined, was Die Entdeckung Amerikas ("Discovering America") by the Ger- man Leo Matthias. Like the Jungk volume, popular until it ran out of print in 1957, the book is one of the most biased and malicious treatments of America ever to come out of Germany. The most lamentable feature of the book is the author's flagrant misuse of statistical



BOOKS THAT GERMANS ARE READING ABOUT AMERICA 249

information. His general conclusion is that the American experiment is for him the greatest failure in world history and at the same time a serious threat to the security of the Western world. The book was widely criticized in the West Ger- man press for its "biased conclusions, exaggerations, and fallacies."

All the books listed above might be described as first-place winners. They were followed on the popularity scale by five books which might be considered second-place winners. These books included, in eleventh position, a positive volume, An der Grenzen der Neuen Welt ("On the Borders of the New World") by Peter van Zahn. Here the author, who also has a book among the first ten, discusses American domestic and foreign policy from a point of view which is clearly favorable to the United States. Ranking twelfth is a neutral book, Amerikaner sind auch Menschen ("Americans Are Also Human") by the German Ingesand; he tries to present an impartial picture of the American people but lacks facts and writing tech- niques. Then comes a neutral volume, Die USA und wir ("The U.S.A. and We") by the German Paul Binder, who offers a somewhat superficial criticism of American policy. Next in order is a positive book, Ein anders Amerika ("A Different America") by Lena Lejeune, a schoolteacher from the Soviet Zone of Germany who came to the United States on invitation of a Protestant college and wrote with praise of the Christian spirit she found all over America. Ranking fifteenth is a neutral volume, Amerika wokin? ("Whither America?") by the American Otto Leichner, who maintains that the United States is moving toward state control and collective security despite the presence of free enterprise.

The last five books on the list in-

cluded: the positive book, Amerikas Weg zum Weltmacht ("America's Rise to World Power") by the American Foster Rhea Dulles, whose thoughtful analysis of American power first ap- peared in 1958 and has not yet attracted great attention. Another positive book, Die Ursacken der wirtschaftlichen Uberlegenheit der Vereinigten Staaten ("The Causes of Amnerican Economic Superiority"), by the American William P. Rappard, akttempts to explain the prominence of the American economic position in the world. Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika ("The United States of America") by the German Richard Sallett, also positive, presents a roundup of American geography, history, labor, economy, and civil affairs. A neutral book, Wesen und Wege der Volkesmission in americanische Protes- tantismus der Gegenwart ("Nature and Operation of People's Missions in Pres- ent-Day American Protestantism") by the German Toaspern, attempts to eval- uate American Protestantism. Finally, a positive book, Der amerikanische Weg zum Weltfrieden ("The American Road to World Peace") by Sir Alfred Zim- mer, offers an evaluation of the Ameri- can endeavor to prevent aggression and to establish a more peaceful world order.

CONCLUSION

The data outlined here suggest three possible conclusions. The first, based solely on the number of titles in each category- 1 positive, 7 neutral, 2 negative suggests that the greatest impact was made by the positive books. This conclusion, however, fails to consider the factor of book distribution. Although there were more positive titles than neutral and negative combined, the number of positive volumes actually pur-



250 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

chased is less than the number in the neutral or the negative categories. Some 149,000 negative books were sold as against 93,500 neutral books and 92,000 positive books. However, a conclusion based on this fact alone is untrust- worthy, for it ignores the fact of shifting interest. Thus, although the two negative books were very popular for a while, their popularity ran out at the end of 1957 -in favor of books more warmly ori- ented to the United States.

Probably the most logical method for arriving at a valid conclusion would be a combination of the two procedures mentioned above. When the bookstore ratings for the books in each of the three categories were summed up, the results showed a Hamburg popularity rating of 144 for the positive books, 99 for the neutral books, and 32 for the negative books. Thus the general conclusion of this study is that the German book public is buying, reading, and probably being influenced more by positive books about the United States than by neutral or negative books.

This finding is apparently also true for the West German nation as a whole. Thus, when the Hamburg ratings for each individual book were weighted according to the size of the national edition-a weight of I for editions up to 10,000 volumes; 2 for editions of 10,- 000-25,000; 3, from 25,000 to 50,000; 4, from 50,000 to 100,000; and 5, for 100,000 and over-there was scarcely any change in the rank order. One negative book, Die Zukunft hat schon begon- nen, jumped from eighth position on the Hamburg scale to second position in the national rank-order scale, but the general findings remained the same; that is, an index of 248 for the positive books, 233 for the neutral, and 106 for the negative.

Whether a general reaction of a sim- ilar nature characterizes public response in other European countries and the book-reading sections of Asia and Africa is a matter for further examination. The appraisal is surely not unrelated to the task of making ourselves understood po- litically, economically, and socially.



Books That Germans Are Reading about America

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