Customer Reviews
Highly Recommended! - By: Rolf Dobelli, 03 Aug 2004 
This book, first published in 1979, is still timely & useful, though it shows a few signs of age. It's hard to believe that any Americans in the CNN age are quite as ignorant of the world abroad as they were in the 1970s. However, diversity training & exposure to Thai & Mexican cuisine only goes so far to inoculate Americans against their own inherent cultural assumptions. Yes, this is written for people from the United States & addressed to them directly, but it would be useful to any sojourner trying to shake off hometown assumptions & adapt to life abroad. This volume treats every reader as a neophyte, a Dorothy in the Land of Oz. Author L. Robert Kohls offers a useful series of self-tests & questionnaires, psychological & anthropological frameworks, & practical guidance on routine matters. The book, which is engagingly written, with a wry & sometimes ironic touch, also contains useful appendices. We believe that it merits a place in the library of anyone, particularly any American, who is taking an overseas assignment, however brief.
A concise classic in cross-cultural preparation - By: , 18 May 2000 This book has been a life-line to myself & many other expats trying to make sense of the new country they find themselves in - & the tumultuous personal changes it brings. I've lived 12 years overseas, 7 based in France, the last ones here. My work takes me into many other different nations. In each, it's provided straight-forward, practical advice applicable to anyone walking into ANYWHERE. I'm recommending my organisation buy a dozen copies to help newly recruited staff prepare for their overseas adventure. It's been so helpful I can't seem to hang on to a copy myself!
