Neither Here nor There: A First Generation Immigrant in Search of American Exceptionalism

Mr. Jager does a great job of sharing his experiences as a first generation immigrant. He has some great suggestions for dealing with immigration and has some good views about how America can be great again. I particularity agreed with his views on changing our political process. We need more people like Mr. Jager willing to share their ideas on good changes for our country that hopefully will encourage voters to elect leaders willing to take some of the good ideas and implement them. Mr. Jager did a lot of research and shared some interesting statistics about our economy and our country and how it compares to the rest of the world. I would highly recommend reading this book.

I read "neither here nor there" with great pleasure and a lot of interest since I found myself in the same situation, although my wife and I became US citizens the day after nine/eleven. I was particularly interested in the analytical part and surprised by the depth of the study that mr Jager invested in the book. I fully agree that the famous belief in the American exceptionalism is based more on a distant past and certainly not on the present situation. All in all, we find that the US is a nice and livable country, it has a lot going for itself, but I think Europeans have more fun.

A thoughtful and honest reflection on the author's decision to immigrate with his young family to the United States. His passion for probing the challenges facing America in its continual struggle to be exceptional when faced with ease of complacency are insightful, thought provoking and yet worrisome. Some well researched and interesting solutions are offered. Worthy of reading regardless of your perspective and a must read for all of us who have the desire to move forward.

A very different perspective on American Exceptionalism. The author compares his European experiences growing up with his adult experiences in the United States. He covers some of the wonderful benefits of life in the USA with some of the pitfalls associated with a largely safety net-free life. Thought provoking.

A very honest evaluation of the authors experiences as an Immigrant, a successful business man, a father, a husband and a citizen. Mr Jager clearly identifies problems with the American system and offers intelligent, realistic solutions. I can only wish that the political bureaucracy could understand and implement programs designed to recreate American exceptionalism for the benefit of our future generations.

This well written book is unique as it not only questions some of today's hottest questioned topics, but it offers answers with sound reasoning.

Great recap of your life and time! Good insight to the NOW...

I am torn about how to decide on a rating for this book. I could give it “two, three or five stars,” depending on which part of the book I want to rate. I settled on four stars.Jager’s writing style is easy to read, and that was a welcome part of the book. However, as I started to read it, and if I hadn’t promised to do a review of it, I’d have quit reading somewhere in the first 75 pages. Why? I’m not a fan or autobiographies, and nor am I interested in how European countries (Netherlands in particular) compare to the USA. The first 1/3 of the book provided way more of that than I wanted, and contained far fewer “nuggets” of insight.It wasn’t until I got to Section III that I found the “five-star gold,” and after that the book is phenomenal. It is filled with “gold” in content and presentation. Frans Jager’s premise of how an immigrant views America may be important to him, but even that point undersells the quality of his insights. Those insights fill the last 100+pp.In fact, the title itself doesn’t adequately “sell” the treasure that fills Section III. (Of course it helps that I agree with both his diagnoses and proposed solutions.) If you are looking for new issues that ail America, Jager doesn’t raise many of those. He doesn’t need to; he provides readers with an insightful and penetrating analysis of the thirteen (13) biggest problems America faces—and some powerful (proposed) solutions for them.For example, in the section on Unemployment, Jager writes:“Government cannot do its job if it does not know who is working and who is not; and, of the people who are not working, it needs to know the reason why not (too young, too old, full-time student, disabled, unemployed, retired, living off established wealth, etc.). How can government craft effective policy if it has to guess at who is working and who is not and for what reason?... America will have to put new metrics in place…”He goes on to say,“I am intimately convinced that the nation’s unfulfilled needs are so large and wide-spread that no able body, who applies for a hand-out from the government should receive support without offering a public service in return.”In the section on Education, he states,“…there is far too much emphasis on graduation as a goal in and of itself, and too little on preparation for a meaningful and productive participation in the future workplace.”On the issues of Terrorism and Immigration,“…our government does not have the information it needs to protect its borders. … That can only be achieved if the law requires (and the Constitution is interpreted to permit), a forge-proof, biometric, identity card for entry in and exit from U. S. territory, as well as for obtaining a job, bank account, credit card, driver’s license and other similar life needs.”This is terrific material and the second two-thirds of this book is filled with it. Granted, Jager can’t (and doesn’t) prescribe how to get all these “fixes” done with America’s polarized and partisan government. But in his final twenty pages, he acknowledges five big challenges to address, including the Constitutional implications—and the need to “address America’s system of governance”—which is no small task in itself.A book with such simple, straightforward descriptions of America’s top problems—and what to do about them—expressed in common sense wording, is like a breath of clear, fresh air.Buy this book; skim the first 100 pages and devour the next 100…then share it with your Congressional Representatives (or get them their own copies). Those are the people who need to read this 100pp., and then work together (regardless of party affiliation) to begin the necessary changes, one by one.

Mr. Jager sets himself a very ambitious target. He promises the reader, several times, a critical review of the American society as seen through "European eyes". The end result has proven to be disappointing in two ways. First of all; he describes the live long career; most of which is irrelevant in the context the key subject of this book. And, secondly, his eyes do not seem any longer to be European in failing to see the collosal moral collapse of the US of America. The massive impact of all crimes set in motion by the G.W.Bush administration (like Guantanomo, second Iraq war, Patriot Act, the Snowdon scandal etc) will not be limited to Europe alone.As we witness every day, the effects are felt all over the world including the USA