These United States: Original Essays by Leading American Writers on Their State Within the Union [Hardcover]

John Leonard (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Nation Books | Publication Date: October 7, 2003

In 1922, The Nation launched a series of forty-nine articles by a distinguished group of writers—novelists, journalists, educators, social workers, lawyers, unionists, and maverick intellectuals—each of whom was asked to contemplate his or her state of the union. Their essays were collected and published in a volume: These United States: Portrait of America from the 1920s. In 2002 Nation Books set out to create a contemporary portrait of America with the critic John Leonard as editor. Each contributor was asked to write 2,500 words on his or her state in the union. Every state will be represented, as well as New York City, Long Island, and Northern and Southern California. The results of this ambitious project are now being published together for the first time. Taken as a whole these essays form less a symposium than a remarkably evocative crazy-quilt of styles that reveal the many moods, apprehensions, complexities, and contradictions held within these United States. Some of the 115 confirmed contributors include: Charles Bowden, Arizona; Ana Castillo, Illinois; Jim Harrison, Michigan; Luc Sante, New Jersey; Tony Hillerman, New Mexico; Sherman Alexie, Washington; and Annie Proulx, Wyoming.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eighty-one years ago, the Nation published a series of 49 articles on each of the then 48 states and Washington, D.C., that were later collected in two volumes. That book's contributors included notables such as W.E.B. Du Bois (Georgia), Sinclair Lewis (Minnesota) and Willa Cather (Nebraska). Now, Leonard, a noted reviewer, editor and writer (The Last Innocent White Man in America, etc.), has edited an impressive new collection of 55 original essays for this new century. Leonard includes Puerto Rico, and California has two essays (North and South), New York three (New York City, Long Island and Upstate). An impressive host of writers, styles and structures are as diverse as the subjects. Michael Tomasky ponders West Virginia's sense of cultural insularity as a state teetering between North and South; Donald Hall mourns the sudden loss (from natural causes) of New Hampshire's emblem, the Old Man of the Mountain; and Walter Kirn details the severity of Montana's economic privation. The book is organized alphabetically by state, and reading from start to finish entails a series of interesting jumps, e.g., from Georgia to Hawaii or from Colorado to Connecticut. This choice is wise, for it allows each state, and each writer, to stand out. Because the project commenced in 2001, references and reactions to the September 11 attacks are myriad. One of the more poignant of these reflections comes in Frank Conroy's piece on Iowa. He writes, "Iowans may be saddened... but they are not afraid. Not even remotely."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Modeled after the 1922 series published in the Nation offering perspectives on the U.S. in 49 articles by distinguished writers, educators, social workers, lawyers, intellectuals, and others, this collection offers an astonishing panorama of how the U.S. has come to be the country it is today. Compared with the original, this current offering reflects "less of a jazz than a buzz age." All 50 states are represented, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. The essays start with Diane McWhorter's observation on Alabama and the irony of transforming its ugly history of resistance to integration to the proud birthplace of the modern civil rights movement. The book ends with Annie Proulx recalling Wyoming's start as the first state to give women suffrage, a clever ploy to lure women to the territory, and its more recent history of sex discrimination. Other contributors include T. D. Allman, Charles Bowden, Rosario Ferre, Nikki Giovanni, William Greider, and Molly Ivins. The collection gives an evocative--both flattering and not so flattering--sense of the numbing sameness spreading across the nation and, at the same time, the underlying and enduring diversity of races, ethnicities, sensibilities, politics, and perspectives of these United States. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books; First edition (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560252855
• ISBN-13: 978-1560252856
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redemption Songs -- an absolute treature!, December 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: These United States: Original Essays by Leading American Writers on Their State Within the Union (Hardcover)

I'm astonished by the range of this book and how over 50 disparate writers, who can't have known what the other writers were writing about, have created an incredible montage of contemporary America, an America from below, beyond the talk show trash and the garbage from teh White HOuse. I found the whole experience quite redemptive and inspiring; these great literary minds have forged a classic piece of Americana that deserves to be treasured for generations...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seduction of an intellectual snob., January 15, 2004

By 

W. Tuohy (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: These United States: Original Essays by Leading American Writers on Their State Within the Union (Hardcover)

I like this book, like it a lot in fact. With only one or two exceptions the chapters are insightful and sometimes inspiring. It truly offers a tour of modern America, and a wonderfully diverse tour at that - sure the states differ, but so do the wrting styles of the various authors. I bought four copies to give as holiday gifts, and each of the young recipients has been seduced into reading chapter after chapter. Personally, I went first to "Texas" and Molly Ivins, then "New Mexico" with Tony Hillerman, "Wisconsin" childhood home of my father, "Upstate NY" my childhood home, etc. etc. Lots of reasons to seek out various chapters.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 50 Unique States with an Unfortunate Vein of Racism Running Through, April 24, 2008

By 

Patricia Kramer (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: These United States: Original Essays by Leading American Writers on Their State Within the Union (Hardcover)

After reading this book, it is clear that each state is truly unique from who settled there and why and how the current populace thinks and works together. Almost every author took a clear eyed view of the problems in the state and most if not all portrayed the continuing issue of racism and wrestled with why it persists. I appreciated the authors' straightforward assessment of the state of their states, and their discussions of what keeps them there or what keeps drawing them back.

Terry Tempest Williams's essay about Utah impacted me the most.
"Something is terrible wrong, out of balance. This we know. This we feel as red-blooded Americans who believe in freedom in all its strange, peculiar, and wondrous configurations.

For those of us who choose to live in the outback of mainstream America -and surely those of us who live in Utah qualify - we choose to believe that voices on the margin have always exerted pressure on the center. Listening is required. Belief and hard work are seen as allies. Suddenly dialogues spring forth like water bubbling up in the desert. And a community rises to the call of its members."

Sherman Alexie's essay on Washington, Molly Ivins on Texas, David Mura on Minnesota, and Joanne Mulcahy on Oregon also stood out.

This book was published in 2003, but made for interesting relevant reading as the election process winds through the states.