A Memoir Of A Young American Grappling With How The Rest Of The World Sees Her Nation

Have you ever talked to an outsider about your country? Were you surprised at the image they had of your nation?

That's what happened to American journalist Suzy Hansen. After moving abroad, she slowly discovered that American "exceptionalism" had raised a generation of self-delusional Americans, herself included.

In this analysis for The Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor reviews Hansen's latest book, "Note from a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World". In it, Hansen looks "at the extent to which U.S. foreign policy has shaped politics, societies and the fates of ordinary people elsewhere."

On his analysis, Tharoor also reviews a recent essay by Hansen for The Washington Post, in which she focuses on this "self-delusion" theory, "product of 200 years of disconnection" from America's acts around the world.

The consequences of this "blind American self-belief" can be seen abroad, but also at home with the ascendance of President Trump. 

"Trump may contradict everything many of us believe about ourselves, but the first question we might ask is whether what we believe is true."