A French writer and politician, Servan-Schreiber described himself as an “agitator in ideas.” Long before the formation of the European Union, in 1967 he published a book calling on Europe to pick itself up, economically — or find itself a distant second to the United States.
In The American Challenge *, he argued against protectionism. “The evil is not the capacity of the Americans,” he said, “but rather the incapacity of the Europeans.” The book was an instant best-seller, eventually selling more than 3 million copies in 22 languages. Servan-Schreiber was later asked why his prediction of the United States dominating Europe didn’t come true. “They listened to my warning,” he said, and “did what I told them.”
He died November 7 from bronchitis after suffering for several years with a degenerative brain disease. He was 92.