Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States

Younge is one of the finest columnists writing in English today (in the British _Guardian_, the most trusted news source in the UK, over the BBC), and one of the best analysts of the US. His take, as a "black Briton," has enough distance to get all the historical, social, economic connections that we Americans usually miss, and enough compassion for the underdog to be compelling and persuasive. The comparisons with his native UK are fascinating, unexpected, and often very funny. My favorite bit is his description of preparing for his first US visit. The much-trashed American book "The Bell Curve" had estimated that blacks were 15 IQ points lower than others, but then friends had told him that Americans mentally add 20 IQ points to anyone who speaks with a British accent. So he'd still come out 5 points ahead in their perceptions.

Well written, apposite, cogent. And face it, there are 300 million Americans- it's not surprising some of them are very very strange. And that's even outside the Beltway!