France and the ‘American Scarecrow’
Anti-Americanism is perhaps an expected feature of French public education, at least according to a study conducted by Barbara Lefebvre and Eve Bonnivard in 2004, which suggested that French textbooks are anti-American to the point that French high school students might be led to wonder, “could it be that all evils in the world are caused either indirectly or directly by the actions of the United States?” (Lefebvre and Bonnivard, 2005). It is true that 2004 reflected a high point in anti-American sentiment in France, and it is reasonable to assume that things have calmed down since then. Yet …
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