The Narcissism of Minor Differences

By Peter Baldwin
Oxford University Press, $24.95, 310 pages

This is an important book and an easy one to grasp.  Baldwin uses concise language and clear data (over 200 very easy to read graphs) to make his point: differences between Europe and America in the areas of the economy, healthcare, welfare in general, crime, the environment, are minor differences.  When we believe otherwise we simply do not know the facts. For each of several social and political indicators Baldwin compares (those easy graphs) the U.S. with 18 to 20 European nations.  So, for example, the chapter on healthcare depicts differences in government spending, total spending, hospitals per 100,000 population, infant mortality, obesity, diabetes, alcohol consumption, and more.  For each indicator the graph exposes where the United States falls in comparison and thus does Baldwin make his point…(over 200 times he makes the point): the differences are minor. The differences among European nations are often greater than the difference in the U.S.

Baldwin’s book is short, focused, and surprising.  He draws on the latest evidence from sources like the United Nations, the World Bank, OCED and he includes 50 pages of end notes and source material.  A well-respected Professor of History at UCLA, Baldwin set out to “unsettle the prejudices and dislodge mistaken assumptions…on both sides of the Atlantic.”  I strongly suggest you let him update your thinking as completely as he did mine. 

Reviewed by Marcia Jo