What Books Explain America (and Americans) to the Rest of the World?

[BurtWorm]

Here's a request from an Italian, I think, on alt.society.liberalism:


Hello,

Anybody could give me books recommendations?

What I'm interested is not simple American History, but I would like
to read books to understand why Americans are the way they are. Why
they think that this country is the top of the world and nothing else
counts? Why are they interested only in what is going on in their own
backyard and don't care about their neighbors, and especially not the
rest of the world? Why the East and West coasts are more liberal than
the middle of the country? Why don't they travel outside their
borders? Why don't they care about anything else but their own
wellbeing?

I want to understand where, when and how it started.

Any book suggestion is really appreciated.
Thank You
Roberto

[mac56]

1. I agree with Ernest Hemingway.

"The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn" is the basis for all American literature. It would be a good starting place.

[La_Serpiente]

2. Could he even understand the discourse in Huck Finn?

It is not standard English.

[ScotTissue]

23. My choice, if I had to choose one

Horation Alger's Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward -illuminates the myth of America. Hunter S. Thompson agrees with me on the importance of these books.

[emad]

3. Try:

Reviews

The Independent
A visual satirical masterpiece

The Observer
said its full of 'malicious joy'

Bizarre Magazine
Book of the Year

Synopsis:

The first book by cult cartoonist Dr Parsons, who stalks the corridors of power and pomposity armed with crayons and coloured pencils like some small, bearded avenging god. Already a cult favourite as an e-mail circular and website, Dr Parsons' childlike but savage satirical cartoons of the Great and Good are now printed and bound and launched on an unsuspecting book trade. The first of what could run to a series of several or fewer volumes, Tony And Me By Georg Bush shows the 43rd President of the United States introducing us to his world, describing in Dr Parsons' inimitable style everything from Georg's oil-baron background to his love of guns -- and, of course, his Speshl Guys. The most Speshl of the Speshl Guys is Georg's best friend Tony Blar. In Tony And Me the Prime Minser and his wife come to visit the White House, and Tony and Georg cement their special relationship in alarming fashion. Funny and offensive in equal measure, Tony And Me is compulsory toilet reading.

and:

[Forkboy]

4. How about Generation of Swine

by Hunter Thompson?

[RandomKoolzip]

5. If Roberto really wants to wallow in the ugliness....

He should read "No LOgo" by Naomi Klein, "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn, or almost any of Noam Chomsky's books on Foreign Policy.

I can't think of anything but standard-issue school history textbooks that tell Americans how great they are, that teach them to be arrogant, etc. I remember my own high school history book took an anti-labor stance regarding the Haymarket Riots, condemned Sacco and Vanzetti, glorified the Manifest Destiny theory, glossed over the Genocide of American Indians, shamelessly claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK all by himself, lionized Eli Whitney and Henry Ford, etc. And this was in the late 80's! Roberto should check out what the schools are teaching ninth-graders to understand the Amerian mind-set.

[La_Serpiente]

6. the Chomsky and Short History of the United States are good books

Perhaps he should read a book on political elections here in the US.

But he did say something else that I found interesting. Why do you think that costal states vote more for Liberals than Conservatives? I think it has to do with the environment, but I don't think that's the only reason. Why is that?

[Redneck Socialist]

7. Tom Wolfe

He is great at capturing and disecting social trends.

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. http://newamericancentury.org/

Most of the authors are currently serving in the present regime.

Here are two very informative quotes from their on camera talent

"you are with us or you are with the terrorists"

"no need for evidence, we know he's guilty"

Recent statements from the International Red Cross and Amnesty International also provide an insightful view into understanding America.

The streets are devoid of rioters, there have been no attempts to storm government buildings in Washington, there has been no general strike, and in fact, the on camera talent for the regime is breaking all records in collecting money from Americans who want the regime to continue.

[Red_Storm]

9. I would include...............

Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck

[VOX]

10. Just about anything by historian Stephen Ambrose...

He reveals the American spirit for better or worse. Ambrose celebrates the inventivness and persistence of that spirit, but does not flinch from examining its darker side.

Some notable books by Ambrose:

-Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869

-Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (with Douglas Brinkley)

-Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West

-Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945

-Nixon: The Education of a Politician 1913-1962

[BurtWorm]

11. What explains that coast/flyover split?

It's probably just a matter of urban vs. rural, right?

[Booger]

22. I'm winging this

winging.....hehehe...fly-over.

I think that urban people feel more enlightened about themselves and the world around them. I think that one might be suprised in what one might encounter in the country. Much wisdom, much distrust of the gov't, union members. Hell, many farmers belong to co-ops.

I think that this issue may have been "slightly" address with the whole NASCAR vote. Although it's as much an urban phenom as a rural one now. But it does address the issue.
Flyover people may actually view coastal people as smug. Considering that city people have to worry about such things as remembering to pick up milk and to make it to work on time. It classifies city people as arrogant, and country people as rubes.

[BurtWorm]

27. It only just occurred to me after seeing NicoleM's post that

someone would be offended by the term "flyover," which I tossed off off-handedly without thinking about it. I apologize if I did offend anyone.

Anyway, are there any books that explain this divide, if there is one? The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller, or Main Street by Sinclair Lewis come to mind.

[Booger]

31. I can't imagine offense

to something like that.

Hell, people are too damned offended by everything anyway. In fact, I'd offend most everybody if I typed in the terms I think in.

Actually, I would like to check out the books you mentioned, as I've always had my Kansas beliefs on the subject, but never followed through in finding other takes on it.

[seemslikeadream]

12. WAR AGAINST THE WEAK

By Edwin Black. I just watched the video on C-SPAN Booktv. It's a must see. Now I'm going to find the book and read it. Ever wonder where Hitler came up with the Eugenics notion? America was practicing it 2 to 3 decades before he came to power. After a decision by Oliver Wendell Holmes opened the flood gates 60,000 forced sterilizations in 27 states funded by Carnige and Rockefeller. The elite were backing it up, Harvard, Yale, Princeton. After Nuremberg the name changed from American Genetics to Human Genetics, same guys, same labs, same buildings, same philanthropic funds.

[tom_paine]

13. "Lies My Teacher Told Me"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684818868/002-6862965-3453660?v=glance

But of course, if a foriegner truly wants to understand the Imperial Subjects of Amerika, I would suggest watching the first six years of "The Simpsons".

After that, like the Flintstones before it, "The Simpsons" now relies on outrageous plots that no still dissect the Imperial Amerikan character, but do so in a crazy framework bound to confuse.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. the color of water...nickled and dimed....the good earth...some Gore Vidal

some Falkner....some Stienbeck....some Mitchner....some Tony Morrison....some Alice Walker...some Jonathan Kozol...some Stephen King....To Kill a Moackingbird......Last Refuge of Scoundrels by Paul Lussier...

[htuttle]

15. Bowling for Columbine

Best diagnosis of the American psychosis I've seen yet.

(but I know it's a movie, not a book).

[blindpig]

16. on a bad day.......

"the Blue Book" of the John Birch Society

[Zorra]

17. Orwell's 1984? n/t

[gottaB]

18. No one book will answer all of these questions

aside from pure fictions,

Democracy in America

Varieties of Religious Experience

The Souls of Black Folk

How to Win Friends and Influence People (ha ha, but there you go)

Growing up Absurd

The Frontier in American History (Haven't actually read it, but I think that's one American Studies people recommend. Anyway, you've got to read something on the idea of the frontier.)

Just a found a site with many of these books and more online.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hypertex.html

[BurtWorm]

21. Dale Carneghie is an inspired choice!

A Sears catalogue probably says a lot, for that matter.

[gottaB]

30. lol--my take on American Psycho

It's a pastiche of ad copy from upscale catalogues--but I can't be absolutely sure that was Ellis' intention. Anyway the movie adaptation would have been edgier if it had more brand-name sarcasm. But I can just imagine the kinds of IP disputes and product placement snafus that raised. Only Spielberg gets away with brand-name sarcasm.

More ad culture reads coming to mind: Syrup, My Year of Meats, and for faroutness most anything by Philip K. Dick.

[Andy_Stephenson]

19. The Grapes of Wrath

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142000663/qid=1066245582/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-7629080-7163916

[zeemike]

24. Also one by Stienbeck that is about American people

Travels with Charley... I think it one of the last he wrote, as he traveled all across the country with his dog Charley in a camper.

[GreenArrow]

28. another good travelogue

is William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways."

[Padraig18]

20. Daniel Boorstin's "The Americans"

Although conservative, he's a first-rate historian. Learn the history first, then dig into the sociology. :)

[Logansquare]

25. "Democracy in America" by de Tocqueville

He describes Red/Blue America c. 1831--fascinating!

[GreenArrow]

26. "The Scarlet Letter"

This book is profound in the way it deals with the split between Puritanism and license/personal freedom in the American psyche, a divide that still exists today and is one of the integral parts of our national character.

I'd second "Huck Finn" and add "Main Street" or "Babbit" by Sinclair Lewis and the original version of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

[Character Assassin]

29. Perhaps you should start by asking yourself some questions

What I'm interested is not simple American History, but I would like to read books to understand why Americans are the way they are.

Really?

Why they think that this country is the top of the world and nothing else counts? Why are they interested only in what is going on in their own backyard and don't care about their neighbors, and especially not the rest of the world? Why the East and West coasts are more liberal than the middle of the country? Why don't they travel outside their borders? Why don't they care about anything else but their own wellbeing?

With all those stereotypes you already believe in, it sounds like you already know all you want to about America and Americans.

I can't imagine that actually reading any books would change your mind.