By ship from Liverpool, British writer Raban ( Old Glory ) arrived in New York, "a city in a round-the-clock state of emergency," to begin his quest for the real America. In Alabama he found "Calvinist" values of godliness, hearth and home, and resistance to change "riding higher than at any time since the Civil War." Sated on "Christ-haunted" cookouts and family suppers, he flew to "impressively tolerant" Seattle, where only intruding Californians were discriminated against, and was struck by the zeal and energy of Korean immigrants. In Seattle he adopted an alter ego, "Rainbird," that of a settled-in novelist, and in the Florida Keys he impersonated a floating outlaw in Miami Vice style. This distancing device lets him step back to assess the potential and heartbreak of a country where an ache for transcendence is channeled into TV, fashion, star-worship, the lottery and escapist fantasy. Wonderfully observant, often hilarious, the book is written in almost sensual prose with the astonished integrity of a visitor who dropped in from another planet. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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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