British author tours 48 states in his British cab to get a feel for each state and Alaska & Hawaii. Fun read.

(2008)Very interesting companion book to Fry's BBC documentary where he drove thru every state in USA in a british cab. Funny and sad at times as Fry doesn't hold back on what he thinks about the people, climate and culture of America. A love story of sorts.Imagine, if you will, Stephen Fry as an American. Could anything be more wrong? The dignified air, dry wit, affable English charm ? surely qualities completely alien to our neighbours across the pond?Many will tell you at length about the undesirable characteristics of the average American. And, to some, actually visiting their shores makes you a form of travel pervert, akin to those with a penchant for package holidays and postcards.But not to Fry. ?What silly, self-deluding rubbish!? he shrieks in his new book. ?What small-minded stupidity!?He actually very nearly did become an American, when his father was offered a job at Princeton University, and the country has long had a seductive hold over him. He is oh so keen to extol the virtues of the place and quash our scorn, hence this road trip ? 50 states in eight months ? where he cuts an incongruous figure on Texan beaches and in Utah deserts in his black London cab. The aim: to present an honest view of the US of A.Kicking off in New England, the odyssey sees Fry attempting to catch lobsters with burly Maine fishermen, hanging out with hippies in a Kansas missile bunker and mingling with Salem witches who, he concludes, have about as much Gothic horror ?as a digestive biscuit?.The locations are as majestic as you would expect (think lava fields in Hawaii and the sweeping icy panoramas of Alaska) and the voices of the Americans he meets give this book a pleasing slither of authenticity.Click here to find out more!Admittedly some of his trip is predictable. A rodeo in Oklahoma ? how original. A brothel in Nevada ? yawn. It rattles through the states at breakneck speed (although not quite as hastily as the TV show) and the prose is hardly the rich, evocative stuff of travel writing legends.But then Fry isn't a travel writer. This is him doing what he does best ? offering a delicious smattering of self-deprecation and a sharp, wry commentary on the nuances of a truly idiosyncratic nation.review-Stephen Fry In AmericaBy Anna Webber, Wanderlust Magazine

Nothing like the wry wit of a Brit in America to make you appherate your country. Plus, the picture of him at the gala in Texas, PRICELESS!!! ( )

Amusing meandering writing about his wandering across America. ( )

I loved all the different portraits of the states except my own, California. He skipped Southern California because it's covered too much at the Oscars. I'm sorry but Southern California is not just movie making and cheesy rich people in Beverly Hills. It's got mountains and Death Valley, San Diego and the zoo. It has JPL and Caltech and Edwards Air Force Base, the Shuttle's other home. It has Yosemite and Sequoia Parks and amazing gardens amd museums like the Huntington as well as the places that aren't so nice and just goes on a pot bust and San Francisco? No! ( )