About the Author:
Jonathan Raban is the author of the novels Surveillance and Waxwings; his nonfiction works include Passage to Juneau, Bad Land, and Driving Home: An American Journey. His honors include the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award, and the Governor’s Award of the State of Washington. He lives in Seattle.
From Library Journal:
Since Crevecoeur and de Tocqueville, Europeans have set sail for America to try to get a handle on this vast, wild New World. Here, Briton Raban makes his second foray (the first being Old Glory , LJ 9/15/81), sailing from Liverpool like an immigrant of yore and landing in places as diverse as New York City, rural Alabama, Seattle, and the Florida Keys. Raban's eye for the unique detail allows him to delve into the American psyche, and this account is far more than a travelog. However, his tendency to embrace the seamy stereotype is disturbing. His New York is out of A Clockwork Orange ; a nasty xenophobia festers below the surface of the New South; and his lawless Keys resemble a watery Dodge City. Nevertheless, recommended.
- Jim Burns, Pompano Beach City Lib., Fla.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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