Typical American

Typical American
Author: Gish Jen
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2014-11-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0547524099

This “irresistible novel” of Chinese immigrants navigating the American dream is “startling [and] heartrending, without ever losing its comic touch” (Entertainment Weekly). Gish Jen reinvents the American immigrant story through the Chang family, who first come to the United States with no intention of staying. But when the Communists assume control of China in 1949, Ralph Chang, his sister Theresa, and his wife Helen find themselves in a crisis, struggling to cling to their old-world ideas of themselves. But soon they begin to dream the American dream of self-invention. They transform, poignantly and ironically, from people who disparage all that is “typical American” to people who aspire to the American ideal. With droll humor and a deep empathy for her characters, Gish Jen creates a superbly engrossing story that sparkles with wit while challenging the reader to reconsider what it means to be a typical American. “No paraphrase could capture the intelligence of Gish Jen’s prose, its epigrammatic sweep and swiftness . . . . The author just keeps coming at you line after stunning line.” —The New York Times Book Review

Typical American

Typical American
Author: Gish Jen
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2008-01-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307389227

From the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of Mona in the Promised Land and Thank You, Mr. Nixon comes a comic masterpiece, an insightful novel of immigrants experiencing the triumphs and trials of American life. Gish Jen reinvents the American immigrant story through the Chang family, who first come to the United States with no intention of staying. When the Communists assume control of China in 1949, though, Ralph Chang, his sister Theresa, and his wife Helen, find themselves in a crisis. At first, they cling to their old-world ideas of themselves. But as they begin to dream the American dream of self-invention, they move poignantly and ironically from people who disparage all that is “typical American” to people who might be seen as typically American themselves. With droll humor and a deep empathy for her characters, Gish Jen creates here a superbly engrossing story that resonates with wit and wisdom even as it challenges the reader to reconsider what a typical American might be today.

The Averaged American

The Averaged American
Author: Sarah E. Igo
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674038940

supports the death penalty, that half of all marriages end in divorce, and that four out of five prefer a particular brand of toothpaste. But remarkably, such data--now woven into our social fabric--became common currency only in the last century. With a bold and sophisticated analysis, Sarah Igo demonstrates the power of scientific surveys to shape Americans' sense of themselves as individuals, members of communities, and citizens of a nation.

Just The Typical American Negro

Just The Typical American Negro
Author: Jun & Louise Briggs-DeHorney
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2009-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1449030653

One cannot comprehend America until they comprehend the Negro. The writer's great-grandfather once said that the Negro was just like a hog they don't endure to the end. Wash them up, dress them proudly and tie a red ribbon around their neck but as soon as they see a mud hole they will wallow. Where their spirit is where they will reside The writer's great-great-great-grandfather who was a very wealthy Slave owner, a judge, and a teacher to future slave owners said it best, that hope was evil. He told his students to acknowledge power, and to give the slave hope. The Slave owner would be in power.

The Love Wife

The Love Wife
Author: Gish Jen
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2004-09-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1400043794

From the massively talented, award-winning author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon comes “a big story ... about families and identity and race and the American Dream.... Jen’s most ambitious and emotionally ample work yet” (The New York Times). The Wongs describe themselves as a “half half” family, but the actual fractions are more complicated, given Carnegie’s Chinese heritage, his wife Blondie’s WASP background, and the various ethnic permutations of their adopted and biological children. Into this new American family comes a volatile new member. Her name is Lanlan. She is Carnegie’s Mainland Chinese relative, a tough, surprisingly lovely survivor of the Cultural Revolution, who comes courtesy of Carnegie’s mother’s will. Is Lanlan a very good nanny, a heartless climber, or a posthumous gift from a formidable mother who never stopped wanting her son to marry a nice Chinese girl? Rich in insight, buoyed by humor, The Love Wife is a hugely satisfying work.

The Average American Marriage

The Average American Marriage
Author: Chad Kultgen
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2013-02-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062119567

The Average American Marriage, the long-awaited sequel to Chad Kultgen’s much debated, always controversial The Average American Male, is a matter-of-fact foray into the male mind and sexual fantasy. Now married with children, Kultgen's lewd and sex-obsessed narrator once again offers up his deep (and not so deep) thoughts on love, marriage, kids, and (naturally) sex: from birthday sex to interns to parenting, The Average American Male looks upon the institution of marriage with the same deadpan smirk he has brought to the rest of his sex-addled, perennially disaffected life.

An American (Homeless) in Paris

An American (Homeless) in Paris
Author: Chris Ames
Publisher:
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2017
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781607815976

Before a post-divorce road trip Chris Ames had been ensconced in French domesticity, with a wife, two children, and a regular job. Returning to Paris after that trip, he became an American vagabond and seeker who, lacking sufficient means and motivation to pay the rent and invest again in permanence, opted for homelessness. He soon found an unexpected place to pitch his tent--an abandoned golf course. Ames recounts a full year spent living there, with little baggage, through snow and heat, while commuting to his job as an English teacher in the city. Developing his urban-survivor skills, he rekindles relationships, starts others, offers glimpses of Parisian society--homeless and not--and ruminates on direction and the lack thereof. Ames circles serious questions, rarely losing a sense of irony, bewilderment, or amusement, especially at his circumstances, with their inherent discomforts, risks, and not-so-reassuring self-revelation. As readers see him stumble into renewed social bonds, his skewed searching and unconventional existence will engage and sometimes befuddle them. "I'm not saying become homeless, but do understand it opens many doors, and helps us appreciate the doors we can close."--from the introduction Winner of the Nonfiction Award in the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Competition

The Average American Male

The Average American Male
Author: Chad Kultgen
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061738433

“I can’t figure out if this book is a heart-felt dispatch from the front line in the battle of the sexes or a brilliant send-up of the way in which the male point of view has been misrepresented by militant feminists. I suspect it may be both.” --Toby Young, New York Times bestselling author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People An offensive, in-your-face, brutally honest and completely hilarious look at male inner life and sexual fantasy. In the course of this hilariously honest book, our narrator suffers through a relationship with his wannabe-actress girlfriend until he finds the perfect girl. But when he moves into the new relationship, he slowly realizes he thinks that all women are pretty much the same, that his true desires will never be fulfilled, and the decision between living life alone or biting the marriage bullet must be made.

Typical American A$$hole

Typical American A$$hole
Author: Affan Ghaffari
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2014-06-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 149073869X

This book unleashes years of frustration stemming from the ostensible and sheer ignorance of Americans concerning not only the outside world, but even matters apposite to their immediate vicinity. I have lived in Tallahassee, Boston, Miami, and College Station. There has been a common thread pervasive in all of these living experiences: the exposure to an increasingly decadent, desultory and vapid American culture. In geography, the concept is called "placelessness." Apparently it seems like a felicitous word to describe the blase nature of an American culture that has become enslaved to the beer bottle, the "boob tube", the Botox injections, the silicon breast enhancements, the marijuana, cigarette smoking, and an ecumenically gilded culture of scapegraces. So much of American culture is being diluted by adherence to "political correctness" and hackneyed "professional standards." What ever happened to the media serving as the "watchdogs" of government? Now the media is more concerned with actually promoting dogs and dog-like behavior from shallow celebrities. The book attempts to compile the dilapidated schemas, illogical double standards, and slipshod behavior of Americans in a sarcastic (yet humorous) and informative (yet satirical) fashion.

What's So Great About America

What's So Great About America
Author: Dinesh D'Souza
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1621570789

With What's So Great About America, Dinesh D'Souza is not asking a question, but making a statement. The former White House policy analyst and bestselling author argues that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, American ideals and patriotism should not be things we shy away from. Instead he offers the grounds for a solid, well-considered pride in the Western pillars of "science, democracy and capitalism," while deconstructing arguments from both the political Left and political Right. As an "outsider" from India who has had amazing success in the United States, D'Souza defends not an idealized America, but America as it really is, and measures America not against an utopian ideal, but against the rest of the world in a provocative, challenging, and personal book.