Conservative writer D'Souza celebrates a conservative conception of patriotism, argues that the United States and the West in general are responsible for all the good in the world, dismisses international and domestic critics. Among the ideas argued in his book: outsiders hate us because we are "great and noble," the U.S. should be seen as having ended slavery (rather than having perpetuated it), British and American colonialism brought progress to the backward third world countries, and the United States started going down the tubes when young people in the 1960s rejected god and started propagating the dangerous ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)