When I first moved to Norway in 1999, I often heard the term amerikanske tilstander – “American conditions.” It was never, ever used positively; it didn’t refer, for example, to things like freedom and prosperity. No, it was always used to describe some dreaded social or cultural or economic phenomenon that was supposedly on the rise in Norway and that threatened to make the country look more like – horrors! – the United States. Evangelical Christianity? Amerikanske tilstander! Gun crime? Amerikanske tilstander! Rough-and-tumble election campaigns? Dumb TV shows? Private medical options? Growing economic inequality? Amerikanske tilstander! Back then, you never,...