Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America

In 1782 an immigrant with the high-toned name J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur—"Heartbreak" in English—wrote a pioneering account of one European's transformation into an American. Some two hundred years later Jonathan Raban, arrived in Crevecoeur's wake to see how America has paid off for succeeding generations of newcomers. The result is a book that is at once a travelogue, a social history, and a love letter to the United States.

In the course of Hunting Mr. Heartbreak, Raban passes for homeless in New York and tries to pass for a good ol' boy in Alabama (which entails "renting" an elderly black lab). He sees the Protestant work ethic perfected by Korean immigrants in Seattle—one of whom celebrates her new home as "So big! So green! So wide-wide-wide!"—and repudiated by the lowlife of Key West. And on every page of this peerlessly observant work, Raban makes us experience America with wonder, humor, and an unblinking eye for its contradictions.