One Man's America

In his provocative and compelling new book, Americas most widely read and most influential commentator casts his gimlet eye on our singular nation. Moving far beyond the strict confines of politics, George F. Will offers a fascinating look at the people, stories, and eventsoften unheraldedthat make the American drama so endlessly entertaining and instructive. With Wills signature erudition and wry wit always on display, One Mans America chronicles a spectacular, eclectic procession of figures who have shaped our cultural landscapefrom Playboy founder Hugh Hefner to National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., from Victorian poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from cotton picker turnedcountry singer Buck Owens to actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan. Will crisscrosses the country to illuminate what it is that makes America distinctive. He visits the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor and ponders its enduring links to the present. He travels to Milwaukee to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of an iconic brand, Harley-Davidson. In Los Angeles he finds the inspiring future of education, while in New York he confronts the dispiriting didacticism of the avant-garde. He ventures to the Civil War battlefields of Virginia to explore what we risk when we efface our own history. And on the outskirts of Chicago he investigates one of the darkest chapters in American history, only to discover a shining example of resilience and gracethe best the country has to offer. Wills wide lens takes in much more as welleverything from the most emblematic novel of the 1930s (and no, it is not about the Joads) to the cult of ESPN to Brooks Brothers and Ben & Jerrys. And of course, One Mans America would not be complete without the authors insights on the national pastime, baseballthe icons and the cheats, the hapless and the greats. Finally, in a personal and reflective turn, Will writes movingly of his thirty-five-year-old son Jon, born with Down syndrome, and pays loving and poignant tribute to his mother, who died at the age of ninety-eight after a long struggle with dementia. The essays in One Mans America, even when critiquing American culture, reflect Wills deep affection and regard for our nation. After all, he notes, when America falls short, it does so only as compared to the uniquely high standards it has set for itself. In the end, this brilliantly informative and entertaining book reminds us of the enduring value of the simple virtues and decencies that can make communities flourish and that have made America great and exemplary.From the Hardcover edition.