Inspired by John Steinbeck, Geert Mak retraces a journey into the heart and soul of America. Mak succeeds in taking the reader by the hand in a process of increased disillusionment with the American project. Well-researched, but at times - such as the pages on current American politics - I found deeply boring. I can't help thinking that even in that sense Mak succeeded in conveying his feelings of despair (although he might loose some readers in the process). Mak clearly describes the tensions between the earlier ideals and current reality. A nation rooted in high Puritan and Enlightment ideals, deeply convinced of their God-given exclusivity, a high-view on their ability to influence the world and with a long-standing foreign policy of maintaining unbalanced power (all those resources for only 6% of world population) and the export the American achievement without trying to grasp what the implications are to others. This nation is now increasingly faced with a loss of economic and political power, an increased loss of equality and human dignity of their own people at home, a breakdown of their cities (Detroit) and infrastructure (California), a loss of certainty in the aftermath of attacks on own soil, the haunting legacy of Vietnam and failed foreign excursions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mak documents the ongoing slide of America, a project Steinbeck also started with 50 years ago. Believing Mak, this time it is no fiction.