Customer Reviews

The Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans (Xenophobe's Guides - Oval Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great gift to give to someone coming to American or to a foreigner living in the US. This little book irreverently captures what is unique about American life -- a topic that others have struggled with, starting with de Toqueville in the 1800s.

I just wish the author would now do one just specializing in Southerners!

I have read two other books in this series -- one about the Swiss, one about the Germans -- and they are just as accurate and funny.

These little books take no more than an hour or two to read.

I just finished reading the Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans. It was a very funny little book, took less than an hour to read. As long as I remained undefensive (I am an American), I enjoyed it. However, I would say that the book is more meant for humor than for actually understanding the culture. Several times the author mentioned atypical examples, or outrageous happenings, to get a point across (e.g. ordering frozen vegetables online). However, some of the examples, despite their absurdity, were dead on! Like I said, it is a very funny book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good laugh. However, to get a less-stereotypical, more accurate view of any culture, I would recommend the Culture Shock! Series instead.

I teach a course at a local business school on the environment for doing business in the United States. All 23 of my students are citizens of other countries and they are hungry for insights and guidance not found in standard texts and properly "politically correct" lectures. I had just submitted my book order for the summer trimester when I learned, to my great dismay, that the book was no longer published. I've since considered every possible (legal & ethical) way of getting this material into my students' hands, only fantasizing about Xeroxing the whole darned thing and then evading the Copyright Police for the rest of my life. I now find that the book is, in fact, still available. Good news for this crop of students and the next!

This thin book has quick bits of information about American habits and attitudes. It had me rolling on the floor, not wanting to admit how much of it is dead on.

Case in point--a few days ago I read an Amazon review where an American wrote, "As most Americans are quite ignorant (I'm one of the few who isn't, and it's quite annoying, like seeing people trying to use sticks as wheels)..." I started laughing right away--Xenophobe has a section detailing how every American wants to distance themselves from every other American by saying that they are unlike the "average American." The author got it dead on!

I'm recently spent a year living abroad in the UK. My two English girlfriends bought me this book as a joke, and I love it.

But I don't take it seriously! I'm an American, and most of this stuff is certainly not true for me. But I laughed my ass off reading it (which took a whopping 2 hours).
Ex: "...most Americans aren't fully aware that Canada is a separate nation."

Not a serious gift, or a serious approach to Americans. But funny, and more true than I'd like to admit.

This is the book to give to your solipsistic acquaintances who think the United States is the center of the universe. From her opening observation that Americans are like adolescents, to her analysis of American materialism and underlying insecurity and her samples of American English, the author maintains a consistent balance between humor and truth. As an American myself, I may be biased, but I found this delightful little book to be even better than the Xenophobe's Guides to the Spanish and the Australians.

A humorous and irreverent overview of the American people, American customs and other things American. Not a "how-to" book - it contains no expatriate tax information, immigration information or useful contact numbers. Rather, it is a look at America from a non-American's perspective. It is short, and would be a good gift for someone moving to America from another country. Americans will find it interesting, amusing, and, for the most part, accurate.

It's risky of the publishers to put out a series of books based on sterotypes, yet they seem to have done their homework. While in London I got the one on both the English and the French, so it seemed only fair to see what they had to say about the Americans. Although I'd like to think of myself "a cut above" the average, reading this slim volume gave me several laugh outloud moments of personal recognition. It's a fun read.

This book was a major letdown compared to some other Xenophobe books I've read. The author constantly harps on typical, uninteresting stereotypes. Unfortunately, what you get is a glaringly oversimplified view of Americana and a constant taste of her sense of disdain to her subject. While I agree that many American tributes and even stereotypes should be brought up, discussed and lampooned - this work would be infinitely better if they took a chapter from the author's of the Xenophobe's Guide to the Germans (or others) where they manage to simultaneously poke fun at themselves and their fellow countrymen yet one always senses an underlying importantly pride in being German in this humour. I actually agreed with and enjoyed small portions of this book, however, in general the reader mostly walks away with a hollow interpretation of Americans molded by the author's sense of contempt and superiority to her fellow countrymen.

Having read several other books of this series, as an American who has lived abroad, I looked forward to reading this book on Americans. I was disappointed. While other books in the series, despite the "xenophobic" titles, tend to temper their criticism with kindness, the feeling that I got from this book was the author's condescending contempt for her fellow citizens. I would have hoped that the author would have shown more sympathy for her subject. The overall negativity of the book notwithstanding, she made many good points. However, I find it sad and inaccurate that she did not balance her often accurate jabs with sympathetic understanding and some portrayal of some of the good qualities of the American culture.

For those looking for an insightful, often critical, very humorous, and yet sympathetic view of Americans, I would highly recommend either of Bill Bryson's books on America: "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America" and "I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away".