Everything You Didn't Need to Know About The USA [antikvár]

preface Everyone knows something about the United States of America. It's impossible to get far into adulthood without gleaning some snippets about 'The Big Country' from Hollywood films, corporate advertising, news broadcasts, nature programmes or even The Guiness Book Of World Records. This book is designed to give you more information about America than you ever had before. It will prove, if proof were needed, that stateside there are literally scores of things you never knew you never knew. Why? Well, it's impossible to wring out the essence of America and pop it in a package for sale and consumption. This is more continent than country. It has a thousand or more different identities and, just when you think you're getting to the beating heart of America, you learn something new that creates more questions than answers. It's surely a mistake to embrace everything American without question. Likewise, to dismiss the US out of hand is both trendy and trite, a perilous error in the modern world. This book aims to give you a new perspective on a subject that intrigues, outrages, astounds and confounds at every turn. For a country that is mighty in all senses of the word, it nevertheless spawns a wealth of minutiae that lends the nation a broader, deeper foundation. To prove my point, the bizarre and the fundamental lie randomly, side by side. Alas, if you read and absorb all that is within the covers of this book there will remain a Pacific-sized ocean of facts, figures and fascinating or facetious clips of information still unknown to you. But don't shy away from this challenge. While it's impossible to conquer this sheer edifice of enlightenment, it is enormous fun trying.