Really interesting and exhaustively researched compare-and-contrast piece, focusing on New Zealand and the United States. I've been meaning to read it for years, and am glad I've finally gotten round to it. Fischer's thesis is simple: both of these nations have a founding ideal. For NZ that ideal is fairness, for the US it is freedom. In both cases, these ideals permeate the culture of their respective countries, and if one looks closely at the history and politics of those countries, they can see how those closely-held ideals have shaped them into very different communities.

Look, I'm convinced. I say that being somewhat biased. I'm a New Zealander, and a lot of what Fischer has to say about fairness here strikes a chord. My experiences of America are by comparison minimal - a couple of visits, but mostly it's been observation from the other side of the world. I can only assume that Fischer, who is American himself, has got it as accurate for his own country as he has for mine. The evidence he's chosen to present seems to indicate that he has. That evidence is apparently enormous. (It certainly felt enormous, reading it.) Fischer covers a number of different aspects within overall society - race relations, the role of women, of the military, of social welfare, of economic history... the points of contrast go on and on. And the sheer weight of argument builds up and builds up, and although the general argument is strongly simplified (I suspect reality is a little more nuanced than the author sometimes makes it out to be) it's still genuinely fascinating to see how two often-competing ideals can drive development in two very different directions. It can, however, feel all too weighty and it does become a bit repetitive in places. I can't help but think that a bit of judicious pruning might have helped, as well as a more thorough exploration of potentially (adequately) free and fair societies - this last is given very short shrift in the conclusion, despite being one of the ostensible purposes of the book as a whole. All in all though, it's thought-provoking stuff and well worth reading.