Tirman (executive director, Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) protests that he is not being "cranky or clownish" in enumerating 100 things that the United States has dove in the world that "[have] gone awry, or worse, [have] gone as planned with disastrous results for almost everyone else." He urges readers to think of his discussion as a corrective, as he goes about criticizing neoliberalism, the war in Vietnam, support for Third World dictators, cultural imperialism, pollution, nuclear weapons, the "War on Terrorism," policy towards Cuba, racial bigotry, violence in culture, cynical public diplomacy, empty celebrity culture, American exceptionalism, Walt Disney, hypocritical religiosity and a host of other ills. Not that it will stop right-wing critics from judging Tirman to be an "America-hater," but he concludes with a description of ten things America does right in the world, including a sense of fair play, welcome of immigrants, creativity, educational excellence, secularism, generosity, the ideal of citizenship, the rule of law, and support for human rights. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)