Notes from a Big Country: Journey into the American Dream

英國最受歡迎人文旅遊作家比爾‧布萊森再度推出新作一個在英國的美國人，回到故鄉反而格格不入，為何作者眼中的美國會成為全世界最瘋狂的國家？出生於愛荷華首都迪蒙的布萊森，因為他的旅遊書《一腳踩進小美國》(The Lost Continent)成名。比爾‧布萊森擅長以詼諧幽默的風格撰寫許多膾炙人口的旅遊書籍，包括《歐洲在發酵》(Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe)、《哈！小不列顛》(Notes from a Small Island )、《別跟山過不去》(A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail)等。長年旅居在英國的他，再度回到美國，希望能重溫兒時的美好回憶，回到故鄉布萊森開始為《週日郵報》撰寫專欄，而這本全新作品集結專欄中精選文章，內容包含布萊森每天在生活中所觀察到的奇異現象，從美國人喜歡沒事對人提告、電視節目亂象、特殊的電影品味、浪費食物與資源及熱愛各大節日等怪異生態，內容兼具風趣與美式幽默，更融合一針見血式的英式嘲諷風格。Bill Bryson has the rare knack of being out of his depth wherever he goes - even (perhaps especially) in the land of his birth. This became all too apparent when, after nearly two decades in England, the world's best-loved travel writer upped sticks with Mrs Bryson, little Jimmy et al. and returned to live in the country he had left as a youth.Of course there were things Bryson missed about Blighty but any sense of loss was countered by the joy of rediscovering some of the forgotten treasures of his childhood: the glories of a New England autumn; the pleasingly comical sight of oneself in shorts; and motel rooms where you can generally count on being awakened in the night by a piercing shriek and the sound of a female voice pleading, 'Put the gun down, Vinnie, I'll do anything you say.'Whether discussing the strange appeal of breakfast pizza or the jaw-slackening direness of American TV, Bill Bryson brings his inimitable brand of bemused wit to bear on that strangest of phenomena - the American way of life.