Stephen Fry in America: Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All |  | Author: Stephen Fry
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $10.87
as of 7/29/2010 15:58 CDT details
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Seller: my-bookmarket
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 82865
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 7.7 x 1
ISBN: 0061456381
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.304931
EAN: 9780061456381
ASIN: 0061456381
Publication Date: March 23, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 Fantastic Book! January 1, 2010
B Waters (Salt Lake City, UT USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I loved this book. There are so many books out there with similar themes, but nothing quite like this. The photography is beautiful, but not so "obvious". Most travel books highlight very well-known tourist destinations. But here, Stephen mixes revered landmarks with small businesses and local people. It really gives you a good look at life in these places.
However, I don't really recommend this book as a travel guide of any sort. Stephen was obviously in such a rush to visit every state, that he doesn't really spend a lot of time anywhere. So for travel interests, it doesn't provide enough insight to be of much value. Instead, this is a book for fans of Stephen Fry. This book is full of Stephen's famous wit, charisma, and humor. And because the narrative is split into 50 sections for the states, it makes a great casual read. There's a lot of photography here, so you could finish it in short time, but I preferred taking my time, reading 2-3 states per day over a few weeks. Like I said, Stephen doesn't have a lot of time to focus on any one state, so it doesn't feel so rushed if you take your time with it. I loved every page.
Highly enjoyable travel book December 31, 2009
R. Badger
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is an unusual and highly enjoyable travel book. Fry crosses America state by state and visits places that average Americans probably never heard of- very interesting places full of interesting people. Fry doesn't just visit each state, he gets to know some of the people and tries his hand at some of their jobs- coal mining, lobstering, farming, etc., And he avoids the usual locations- his trip to New York State doesn't include Times Square, but up-state deer hunting. He doesn't just visit and encouter people and places, he tells you what he thinks of them. And if you don't already know Stephen Fry, you will find his insights refreshing and always interesting. If you do know Fry, then this book is just what you hoped it would be; I have never read a travel book filled with so many smiles and laughs and ideas. Regarding the 3-star review on this page, the British spelling of many words is close to, but different from, ours. Words like tire and color aren't misspelled, they are just spelled the British way.
Only in Britain! January 2, 2010
Zaine Ridling (Missouri, US)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It takes a true British man to remind us how fun our crazy country can be. Reminds me somewhat of the book 'Blue Highways,' since Fry takes the reader off the beaten path that traditional American media grab for a sound bite. The photos are vivid, the characters he meets are all familiar; even if you don't know the name, you know someone exactly like that. The series on the book is televised on PBS. In the meantime, make sure to follow Stephen on Twitter as 'stephenfry.'
Funny, funny book! May 10, 2010
Elsin A. Perry (Norris, TN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Amazon.com knows me. With Magic Cookies it keeps track of
what I look at and buy, so it can suggest OTHER books for me to
buy. What a thoughtful company!
That's how I discovered the book, "Stephen Fry in
America."
"That's a familiar name," I thought, but who he was stayed
perched on the far edges of my mind, where the deer and the
antelope play.
And while I busied myself with other things, my brain was
flipping through its files, searching for "Stephen Fry." Right
in the middle of eating a coldcut sub, Eureka, it came
to me. Of course! Stephen Fry was half of "Fry and Laurie,"
that wonderful British comedy team of the 1980s and 1990s! Stephen Frye
went on to write this highly entertaining
book. His partner, Hugh Laurie, came to America to star in a
TV show called "House," and was never heard from again.
"Stephen Fry in America" isn't exactly a travel book. It's
more than that. Mr. Fry visits each state, avoiding the usual
tourist attractions. He holds up a mirror to ourselves in
this book full of wit and humor.
Best of all, Fry tells what he thinks of the people and
places. He talks with Morgan Freeman in Mississippi, joins
Zulus in a Mardi Gras march, drums with the Sioux Nation,
celebrates Halloween in Salem, goes to a club for failed
gangsters in Brooklyn.
He even tries his hand at some of their jobs. Lobstering
in Maine, for instance. He's amazed at the amount of hard work
it takes to get these aggressive crustaceans into the boat. And
his opinion of lobsters? "...simply giant marine insects. Huge
bugs in creepy armour. Look at a woodlouse and then at a
lobster. Cousins, surely?"
In West Virginia he joins workers at the Kanawha Eagle
Mine. When they're deep into the mine, he panics. "I am hating
this. I want to escape, NOW, right this minute please, but I am
too much of a coward to let anyone see what a coward I am...I
add miners to the list of people I tremendously admire but
would rather die than emulate."
In Wisconsin---"You should know by now that I love,
respect, venerate and adore most things American...so much here
is of abiding value, charm, beauty and quality. But not the
cheese...the most hideous orange melted gunk...with a processed
liquid substance which is closer to a polymer than a
foodstuff."
Montana is smaller than only Alaska, Texas and California.
Didn't know that.
Fry visits the Montana-Canadian border. Well, not all of
it; the border is 550 miles long. It's heavily policed, now.
In this fourth-largest state, he visits the biggest
landowner in America, aside from the federal government. He's
"an extraordinarily generous and, some would say, eccentric
philanthropist."
Fry's visit with Ted Turner is friendly and fascinating.
At the end of it, Fry writes, "A likeable, stylish individual
who seems to have got more pleasure from his money and done
more with it than most."
Tennessee---ah-ha! My home! Fry goes to Townsend to hear
bluegrass, which he's always loved. At the Rocky Branch Club,
he wanders "from room to room dizzy with delight."
He then goes to Memphis to see the famous (in Memphis,
anyway) ducks. At the end of this part, he writes, "Duck poo,
unpleasant as it is, has great appeal when compared with what
awaits me further north in the city of Knoxville."
W-E-L-L!! I turn the page, feeling personally insulted.
And there it is, in large letters---"CADAVERS!" He's writing
about the Body Farm!
It was not a pleasant visit for him. His descriptions are
very graphic. "For all my age and experience, there had still
been some sweet, small, shy flower of innocence inside me when
I arrived at the Body Farm. By the time I leave, it has gone
forever."
If memory serves me correctly, and half the time it does,
Fry deeply dislikes only one state, New Jersey. Sorry, Boss.
The words printed under "New Jersey" are "And so I find
myself driving into hell." That "Garden State" motto does not
fool him one bit.
He dislikes only one city, Waikiki. "What a horrible, what
a grotesque, what a SHATTERING disappointment. Of all the
unspeakably vile tourist hells I have ever visited, this has to
be one of the worst."
(Tell us how you REALLY feel, Mr. Fry!)
At the beginning of each state's section, there is a
sidebar called "KEY FACTS." State nickname, flower, bird, well-
known residents/natives. Under the last heading, for New
York State, he writes, "That would be unfair on the other
states. There are thousands." The "be unfair ON," rather than
"TO" the other states, is because Fry writes this book in
English-English. At the back of the book he lists 68 "American-
English" words for his British readers.
Fry, this funny fellow, ends the book by writing, "I loved
America before this trip and I love it now more than ever...I
met very few fools on my travels, save perhaps the British I
encountered who thought themselves naturally superior: I still
shiver with embarrassment at the memory of their imbecile
arrogance. America is not perfect, and I do not love Britain
any less for loving America more."
He loves us! And you'll love him and his book! It's good-
sized, with photographs on almost every page.
SHIPPING January 9, 2010
Walt Bobo (Houston, TX)
0 out of 11 found this review helpful
The book was a gift and I trust it was a good read; he is a good reader. My problem was determinig the delivery date. It is very difficult to know when arrival and delivery will occur, given the intentionally very broad guestimate of delivery date.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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