Henry Fairlie

In the post immediately below, I note how good British commentaries on the United States can be. One example:

Henry Fairlie was a British journalist who worked in the United States from the mid-1960s until his death in 1990. If you like American political history and ever have the opportunity to read The Kennedy Promise or The Parties (both are out-of-print), you should take that opportunity. In the former, Fairlie presents a forceful case for John and Robert Kennedy as quintessential Cold Warriors; in the latter, he paints such a vivid picture of the sad-sack GOP of 1932-1978 that you can understand why Reagan is revered by Republicans for reviving it.

Both books are odd, and I don't fully agree with either, but they are well-written and have an intelligent unorthodoxy to them that makes them fun to read.