The main point of this book is that biased perceptions of international relations are anchored in a nation's collectively held patriotic self-image, and that these biased international perceptions serve to bolster and perpetuate the patriotic beliefs upon which they are based. This book explores the cognitive structures and processes through which this occurs. Theories and methods from the fields of social and cognitive psychology, cultural anthropology and communication studies are combined to create a useful framework for the analysis of international perceptions. This framework is then applied to American beliefs and perceptions in the post-World War II era.

Hirshberg claims that an American patriotic schema has been a long-standing, stable and pervasive fundamental belief system in American culture, and a cold war schema extended the patriotic schema into world affairs after World War II. He argues that the American patriotic schema is tied in an interactive fashion with ongoing perceptions of international relations. Ultimately, stable, patriotic public perceptions of national greatness and governmental legitimacy function to ensure a supportive and acquiescent public. This helps secure America's impressive level of political stability. This book will be of broad interest to those political scientists and psychologists who occupy the general field of political psychology.