The decade since 9/11 has given Americans reason to fear that their country's image abroad is negative and impervious to change.

But in fact, foreign perceptions of the U.S. are complex, emotional and frequently internally contradictory, and they often change quickly, a UCLA adjunct professor of communication studies argues in a new book.

In "American Avatar: The United States in the Global Imagination" (Potomac Books),  Barry A. Sanders provides an analysis of how views of a country are formed and what can be done to alter them.

At UCLA,  Sanders teaches related courses, including "The Images of America Around the World" and "Public Diplomacy."

Sanders is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He currently serves as president of the board of commissioners of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and as chairman of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.

As chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, he led the city's bid to host the 2016 Summer Games.

For more than. 35 years, Sanders practiced law with Latham & Watkins, specializing in international law.