New York, Jan. 26, 2006 – He’s not quite Angelina or Britney, but Bernard-Henri Levy is a star in France, where they refer to him simply as “BHL”. Like other European superstars – hello, Robbie Williams – the French intellectual is trying to break into the U.S. market, publishing his 30th book in the States before any other country. The book, American Vertigo, chronicles Levy’s travels across the country by car, which, with true Gallic chic, the handsome philosopher undertook with the services of a chauffer.

And so, to the strains of Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again, Levy entered the New York Public Library on Thursday, and greeted an audience that included Lauren Bacall, Diane von Furstenberg and writer Harold Evans. Evans’ wife, British journalist Tina Brown, took time out from writing her book about Princess Diana to talk with Levy about his new work.