Description
Driving Home: An American Scrapbook by Jonathan Raban is a wide-ranging collection of essays and travel writing drawn from two decades of the author’s life in the United States. Writing as an Englishman who moved to Seattle in 1990, Raban observes America with the perspective of both an outsider and someone who has gradually put down roots there. His subjects include the landscapes and communities of the Pacific Northwest, American history, politics, literature, environmental issues and the changing character of the places he has come to know.
Raban’s writing combines close observation with wit, humour and a willingness to challenge familiar ideas about American life. Among the pieces are reflections on Seattle, the Mississippi floods, American wilderness and land use, literary figures such as Philip Larkin and Gore Vidal, and the political climate surrounding the final years of the Bush administration and the election of Barack Obama. Part essay collection, part diary and part travel writing, Driving Home offers an intelligent and often sharply funny portrait of America through the eyes of a long-term resident who remains alert to its contradictions and peculiarities.
