Customer Reviews

My America: What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My America by Hugh Downs

My America by Hugh Downs is a collection of 150 brief, one page or so on the average, comments on 'what America means to me.' Selected by invitation, these individuals express their patriotic feelings with stories or straightforward editorial comments. I have found nothing surprising. If you ask a handful of elite individuals who have already succeeded in their chosen profession in any country, you will find similar outburst of patriotic feelings.

Missing in this book are the views and feelings of ordinary citizens. In my opinion America is a great country for ordinary people-like a man from India who came to this country because he knew this is where even poor people are fat, have television sets in the living room, microwave ovens in the kitchen and cars in the driveway, if not in the garage.

Those who have made in any society will feel good about themselves and the society, but what about those who have not yet made? If Mr. Downs included the voices of another 150 ordinary citizens in his book, the book would have been much better reading.

Of the 150 comments, the one story that touched me most deeply was the one by Pete Hamil, a journalist, an author and a descendant of an Irish immigrant. When he was a boy, he witnessed in the dark of the night his father weeping from physical pain. The stump of his ruined leg was covered with blisters caused by the heat wave. And yet, in the morning, his father went to work in the factory where there were concrete floors but no air-conditioning. He went to work because he was an American allowed to work without being asked about his religion, his family history, or his political beliefs.

He writes, "Some Americans might be stirred into love of country by the sight of B-52 vapor trails. I prefer the image of a young Mexican-American woman in cap and gown, surrounded by weeping parents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters, walking into an early summer afternoon, clutching a diploma. In that moment, she honors her family. She honors mine too, and all those where a parent once wept in the dark. Above all, she honors America."

It wasn't as impactful as I thought it would be. Some of the people that gave comments gave some great comments and others, well, other gave comments. The selection of people was a good cross section but it didn't have meaning to it. I was looking for more in depth commentary. Maybe what I was looking for should have been said between each of the comments in the book. It might have looked like hugh just collected a bunch of email and old letters and thrown them together.