America through Foreign Eyes is written for Americans by a foreigner who has lived, studied, worked and dealt with America for half a century. In these pages, Jorge G. Castañeda seeks to reflect upon some of the more salient features of the country. He considers the observations of other foreigners, from Dickens to Naipaul, and identifies aspects of the U.S. that were not touched upon by these authors. As a former Foreign Minister of Mexico,
Castañeda brings a different viewpoint to issues ranging from purported American exceptionalism, uniformity, race and religion, culture, immigration, and the death penalty. Ultimately, he describes the United States' arduous and successful road to modernity, and the construction of what can justly be called an American
civilization.