It is quite illuminating to see the exchange for instance between Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky to get a sense of the difference of tone and focus between european and american intellectuals.
What difference in tone and focus are you referring to? Noam Chomsky seems like a much more 'European-style' (academic?) intellectual then the pop/celeb 'intellectuals' popular in America such as Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wfNl2L0Gf8