For expatriates like us, it's difficult to find original gift ideas that show off the fabulous country – or city – where we have taken up residence. Why not offer beautiful Books that tell the history of the United States, invite you to discover Route 66 or listen to Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen converse? Here is an overview of the works selected by French Morning.
Once upon a time in America by Catherine Mory and Jean-Baptiste Hostache
To tell America in a fun way, there's nothing like a good comic strip. Once upon a time in America is a collection of two works by the author Catherine Mory, who has already published The incredible history of French literatureand illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Hostache. Both look back at the history of the United States since the Founding Fathers. The first volume is a journey through 19th-century America through its greatest authors and best-known works: Cooper and the Indian Genocide, Hawthorne and the Salem Witches, Poe and the Invention of the Detective Novel, Whitman and the Civil War, London and the Gold Rush. Volume 2, devoted to the 20th century, returns to Miller and eroticism in the land of the Puritans, Fitzgerald and the Roaring Twenties, Faulkner and Southern racism, Hemingway and the lost generation, Steinbeck and the 1929 crisis, Kerouac and the Beat Generation, Tennessee Williams and the theater of madness, Capote and true crime. Enough to take you on a journey during your long winter evenings.
50 American Icons by David Groison
Without living there, the United States is a country evocative of many images, from Texan hats to Facebook thumbs-up, including Coca-Cola bottles and the Empire State Building. Thanks to films and series, America has imposed icons on the rest of the world and is defined by these images sealed in the collective unconscious. In 50 American Iconsauthor David Groison and illustrator Walter Glassof have explored the hidden or forgotten history of each of these icons, the history of the United States which is taking shape and which allows us to better understand the lives of those who there live. From the conquest of wide open spaces to the Great Depression, including the development of industrial food and that of cinema, this work also invites us to discover the history of globalization in recent decades.
On Route 66 by Stéphane Dugast
If you liked Jack Kerouac, you will love it On Route 66 by Stéphane Dugast. The strip of asphalt that crosses the United States from Chicago to Los Angeles is THE road, a living and palpable element of the myths of the great American spaces. To better capture this piece of heritage, the reporter, writer and documentary film director traveled the 66 on a legendary Harley Davidson, from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. An adventure in search of meaning, encounters and unexpected events, which takes its readers with it.
-The bowels of New York by Julia Wertz
Yet another book about New York? Yes, but about the city like you've never seen it before! Far from a tourist guide, author Julia Wertz tells us an illustrated history of the blocks, buildings and bowels of this city that never sleeps. In this original and well-documented comic strip, she shows the architecture of the city and its evolution – the historic shops, the changes in facades and signs – and treats us to little-known anecdotes from New York, such as that of the legendary abortionist of Fifth Avenue, that of the serial killer Lizzie Halliday, the great prohibition of pinball machines or the history of the pneumatic tube system. A unique stroll through the streets of New York.
Renegades – Born in the USA with Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen
Telling the story of America through the vision of two country legends. This is what is proposed Born in the USA, through a fascinating dialogue between President Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen. In a recording studio where dozens of guitars are stored, and during a trip in a Corvette, Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen discuss marriage and fatherhood, racial issues and masculinity, the intoxication of the road and the return to the origins. They also exchange their thoughts on their protest songs favorites or even on the most notable great American figures. They explore their origins and the defining moments of their careers, but also the polarization of political life in the United States and the growing gap between the American dream and the reality of the country. A unique book which contains more than 350 unpublished photographs, texts and archival documents.
Providence Canyon by Corrine Cotereau
This first novel, by Corrine Cotereau based in San Diego, California, was inspired by the Goat Canyon trestle bridge, the longest trestle bridge in the world, which is hidden in the Anza-Borrego desert, all the way south of California. The plot takes place at the Dry River Café & Resort, a shabby campsite in the Anza-Borrego desert where “JB”, a Frenchman fleeing a painful past, has ended up. His life is turned upside down the day Paul Carter, the brutal construction site manager, arrives, tasked with relaunching the legendary railway line that crosses the region. It changes when he goes in search of Stéphanie, a young French woman who was the victim of a tragedy, during her stay in California at the end of the 1990s. A successful novel in which the French expatriate author was keen to develop characters related to his French culture, and to talk about his personal experience (our article).
