I found Desmond Fennell's latest book rather hard going - not because it is badly written but because it is a book which one should take time over. It falls somewhere between history, sociology, personal thoughts, travel diary and man-watching.
Initially when I picked up Uncertain Dawn I believed I was in for an interesting read on the American Nuclear Age. This was not to be so, although the bomb figures throughout, if not as the starting point, then as a staging point for the US's and Europe's transition, according to Fennell, from a modern western civilisation to the New American civilisation: Ameropean, as he calls it.
It is a wonderfully complex book. Fennell proposes the theory that American civilisation (if there was ever such a thing) has changed. Prior to the second World War, the US was a "product" of western Europe; since the advent of the atomic bomb, and the bombing of Hiroshima, however, things have been turned about. The US, with its new post-western, post-modern culture and ethos, now leads Europe.
Fennell challenges the reader to look at the US today through the author's eyes, to see a country which has undergone almost total change without it being noticed by the world, or, indeed, by most North Americans.
Uncertain Dawn begins by describing the events immediately following the bombing of Hiroshima. It details the "Establishment's" description of the massacre of the population of a Japanese city as "merciful", "compassionate" and "humanitarian". Through this event the US became a "superpower". It was now on its way to becoming the great Western Leader.
Throughout the book Fennell, cites the US's "liberal" attitudes, its endeavours to protect individual bodily integrity, its sectoral view of the rights of minorities, non-whites, and others, and the advent of naturism (protection and awe of the environment), as proof that this once Protestant Republic and European satellite has become a pagan empire.
While reading the book I found myself constantly stopping and debating this or that issue in my own mind. I could see his point, agreed that there indeed had been a major shift in the US, that the world (not just Western Europe) was imitating this shift and was dependent upon the US, but I could not agree that this was altogether bad. Fennell does not say that the New America is good or bad, but I feel that he would prefer the WASP culture of the old US to the forces that now rule the country.
He points to the major role that "political correctness" plays in the New America. Certainly "political correctness has given much to many. For instance, it has ensured, at least in principle and in law, that those confined to wheelchairs are no less worthy than those of us lucky enough to have use of our legs; that non-smokers have a right to smoke-free air; that the non-white will have just as much opportunity as the white in terms of education and career; that the female has the same rights as the male.
But political correctness (especially in the US) has also put fear into many - the fear that they may insult one who is different from them, the fear to use certain words, do certain things, the fear to smoke, to hold a specific belief. In short, the new American Civilisation has no "individualism", no place for the individual.
I found Uncertain Dawn conjuring up all sorts of images in my mind, some good, some not so good; I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with Fennell at the same time. His theory of the New America seemed to me both right and wrong.
His book requires repeated reading; it is not for those who just want a quick, simple read. It is a real book, the opening shot in what I believe will be a long, intellectual, academic and, it is to be hoped, practical exploration of the Ameropean theory. I recommend the book highly.
