Stephen Fry in America
Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All
By Stephen Fry
(William Morrow, Hardcover, 9780061456381, 320pp.)
Publication Date: November 2009
Categories: Essays & Travelogues, United States - General
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Britain's best-loved comic genius, Stephen Fry, turns his celebrated wit and insight to unearthing the real America as he travels across the continent in his chariot of Englishness, a black London cab.
Stephen Fry has always loved America. In fact, he came very close to being born here. His fascination for the country and its people sees him embarking on an epic journey across America, visiting each of its fifty states to discover how such a huge diversity of people, cultures, languages, and beliefs creates such a remarkable nation. Stephen starts his journey on the East Coast and zigzags across America, stopping in every state from Maine to Hawaii, talking to each state's hospitable citizens, listening to music, visiting landmarks, viewing small-town life and America's breathtaking landscapes, following wherever his curiosity leads him.
En route he discovers the South Side of Chicago with blues legend Buddy Guy, catches up with Morgan Freeman in Mississippi, strides around with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch, marches with Zulus in Mardi Gras in New Orleans, drums with the Sioux Nation in South Dakota, joins a Georgia family for Thanksgiving, "picks" with bluegrass hillbillies, and finds himself in a Tennessee garden full of dead bodies.
Whether in a club for failed gangsters in Brooklyn, New York (yes, those are real bullet holes), or celebrating Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts (is there anywhere better?), Stephen is welcomed by the people of America—mayors, sheriffs, newspaper editors, park rangers, teachers, and hoboes, bringing to life the oddities and splendors of each locale. A celebration of the magnificent and the eccentric, the beautiful and the strange, Stephen Fry in America is the author's homage to this extraordinary country.
Stephen Fry was born in London in 1957 and educated at Stout's Hill, Uppingham, and Queens' College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he joined the Footlights, where he first met Hugh Laurie. He has numerous television appearances to his credit, most notably, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder, QI, and House. Major film roles include Peter in Peter's Friends (1990) and Oscar Wilde in Wilde (1997); in the realm of television, his critically acclaimed The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive won an Emmy. He is the author of the best selling novels The Liar, The Hippopotamus, Making History, and Revenge: A Novel, as well as the highly acclaimed autobiography Moab Is My Washpot and, in 2005, a well-received guide to writing poetry, The Ode Less Travelled.
“Most entertaining. His writing style proves to be as pleasurable as his presenting.”
-The Independent (UK)
“Informative, charming and witty. A delight from Maine to Hawaii.”
-Sunday Tribune (South Africa)
“An insightful and fascinating look into what makes this country of contradictions tick. ”
-Herald Sun (Australia)
“Covering 50 states in eight months in a black London cab, Fry offers up a delectable slice-of-life of America.”
-Financial Mail (South Africa)
“Offers an outsider’s refreshing perspective on the vastness and variety of America. Delightfully funny and informative.”
-Library Journal
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