Many US cities are much better than New York at symbolizing various facets of America but none is capable of symbolizing, all by itself , what the rest of the world sees as both the best and the worst aspects of America.
It truly is Janus Manhattan ; truly is Jekyll and Hyde Manhattan.
Equally part Gordon Gekko and part Emma Lazarus.
Manhattan's (and America's) Jekyll and Hyde personality never mattered more so than in 1945 when it birthed both America's selfishly monopolistic a-bomb program (Yellowcake) and America's program to selflessly give away penicillin (Yellow Magic) .
As a large scale American survey at the end of the last century revealed, most Americans think those two were the most important news stories of the 20th century - I doubt that many in the rest of the world would disagree with that assessment.
So all citizens of this globe should carefully ponder the seventy year old lessons from Manhattan '45 , less they continue to fatally either underestimate (or overestimate) America's willingness to do good in the the world.
I hope my book will be both a real page turner and provide much grist for reflections on America's consistently Janus-like character ...
It truly is Janus Manhattan ; truly is Jekyll and Hyde Manhattan.
Equally part Gordon Gekko and part Emma Lazarus.
Manhattan's (and America's) Jekyll and Hyde personality never mattered more so than in 1945 when it birthed both America's selfishly monopolistic a-bomb program (Yellowcake) and America's program to selflessly give away penicillin (Yellow Magic) .
As a large scale American survey at the end of the last century revealed, most Americans think those two were the most important news stories of the 20th century - I doubt that many in the rest of the world would disagree with that assessment.
So all citizens of this globe should carefully ponder the seventy year old lessons from Manhattan '45 , less they continue to fatally either underestimate (or overestimate) America's willingness to do good in the the world.
I hope my book will be both a real page turner and provide much grist for reflections on America's consistently Janus-like character ...
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