Description
Book SynopsisAt the age of ten, when Martin Amis spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey, he was excited and frightened by America. As an adult he has approached that confusing country from many arresting angles, and interviewed its literati, filmmakers, thinkers, opinion makers, leaders and crackpots with characteristic discernment and wit.
Included in a gallery of Great American Novelists are Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Paul Theroux, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Amis also takes us to Dallas, where presidential candidate Ronald Reagan is attempting to liaise with born-again Christians. We glimpse the beau monde of Palm Beach, where each couple tries to out-Gatsby the other, and examine the case of Claus von Bulow. Steven Spielberg gets a visit, as does Brian de Palma, whom Amis asks why his films make no sense, and Hugh Hefner''s sybaritic fortress and sanitised image are penetrated.
There can be lit
Trade Review
Martin Amis's America is funny and horrific * The Times *
Perceptive, witty and felicitously written... A terrific book -- Frank Kermode * London Review of Books *
He writes brilliantly on novels and novelists. He has a laser-keen eye and an enviable descriptive power, using words with great originality and precision * Sunday Telegraph *
As a foreign journalist-cum-essayist on America, Mr Amis has no equal * The Economist *
