NOW THAT THE WAR in Iraq is over (the first part, anyway), Americans are trying to repair relations with our erstwhile European allies. While some of my Weekly Standard colleagues are doing the really tough work–attending lavish, well-lubricated conferences on Italy’s Lake Como to discuss transatlantic ties with our European counterparts–the rest of us must forgo the rigors of Alpine lakeside resorts and satisfy ourselves with . . . reading. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to help us understand America’s Europe problem. I’m already on record touting the merits of Weekly Standard contributing editor Robert Kagan’s “Power and Weakness” essay in Policy Review (subsequently expanded last year into the book-length “Of Paradise and Power”). Kagan brilliantly limns how the “power gap” between America and Europe has led to a “Mars / Venus” divergence of worldviews.

Although Kagan’s framework explains a great deal, we need to examine more closely the intellectual roots of the irrational anti-Americanism that has become such an easy pose, even for otherwise-sensible Europeans. There’s no better place to start than the lead article in the current issue of the Public Interest, A Genealogy of Anti-Americanism, by University of Virginia professor of government James W. Ceaser.