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America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip In Search of Non-Corporate USA

Author: Dave Gorman
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 263

Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3

ISBN: 0091899338
EAN: 9780091899332
ASIN: 0091899338

Publication Date: April 3, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Great Idea! May 15, 2008
Whilst this may not be the funniest book (although in places there are hilarious moments) and the style of writing can grate occasionally,

5 stars go to an awesome idea with an end result that makes me want to go on my own independent little road trip across the US in a classic car.

If you enjoy the work of Danny Wallace then it is likely that you won't regret buying this book.

Note: This book does appeal heavily to my sense of travel and adventure and if you don't also relate to this you might be disappointed.

4 out of 5 stars

Almost makes America sound nice... May 8, 2008
Like many people I encountered Dave Gorman's comedy/documentary through his quest to find 54 other Dave Gorman's (to win a bet), and was further won over by his 'googlewhack adventure' which is a very funny, and structurally very fine piece of work.

At first America Unchained lacks the comic angle, and sure there are fewer laugh out loud moments than the earlier books, but this book grew on me. There's less of a wacky conceit to the journey here (so not the type so derided recently by Mitchell & Webb in one of their sketches- unnecessarily attacking fellow comedians) with a reasonable logic to try and find the non-corporate America, and it's successful in finding a mostly friendly and helpful America (apart from Mississippi) so removed from stereotypes (some coming from their own media).

It's not a great piece of travel writing either, if you're a reader of such books, in terms of describing places and spaces, but as ever this is really about taking another journey with Dave. He's very good at a particularly English kind of blend of whimsy, intellect, and self-deprecation, with and added does of a relatively untypical (for an Englishman) degree of unabashed passion over things he experiences and values.

The only downside is this is only his third book, and I'v now read them all. I hope whatever journey he takes next, he writes it down

4 out of 5 stars

if there was no film i'd give it 5 May 1, 2008
i realy liked this book and i loved the concept of traveling withought relying on chains. the only thing i was dissapointed about is that the filming seems to of had a severe effect on dave gormans trip. i feel that if there wasnt a film around this the story would be alot more entertaining and probably have a deeper meaning.
i think that if you buy this thinking its going to be similar to his other books you probably wont enjoy it.

4 out of 5 stars

Not Dave Gorman's best but a well-told journey May 1, 2008
This is Dave Gorman's third "I bet you can't..." book. This time round it's "I wonder if I can..." rather than a drunken bet but the principle's the same- Dave Gorman is set a challenge, with an arbitrary but rigid set of rules, and in order to complete it he finds himself travelling around the world and meeting all manner of strange people in all sorts of strange places.

This time around the subject is America. By his own admission he's not a big fan of America thanks to his experiences touring there and he blames this on the sameyness of all the American venues, so he goes in search of the "real" America. He meets some very likeable people, and some much less likeable, but only a handful of them are really unusual.

The story is well-told with some great dramatic flourishes- skipping ahead to Moab as a teaser towards the beginning of the book, for example. Once you're into the last few chapters of the book though there is a certain inevitably, as the fact Dave hasn't set himself a time limit for this challenge means the story tails off rather than reaching a last-minute climax.

Not Dave Gorman's best adventure but a worthy one and a good read.

4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining, but could do with a bit more depth. April 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I first encountered the comedian Dave Gorman some years ago thanks to his TV series, The Dave Gorman Collection, in which Gorman recounted how, after a drunken bet with his friend Danny Wallace, he ended up travelling the world searching for other people with the name Dave Gorman. The TV series and the accompanying book were both hilarious, as Gorman's quest to find 52 other Dave Gormans took him on some very odd adventures (including an extremely awkward moment when he had to explain to Israeli airport security why he wanted to visit their country). He followed this up with Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure, in which he tracked down owners of 'Googlewhack' websites, where two words are combined to create a unique website with only one result returned on Google.

This third TV/book pairing opens with Gorman recovering from a particularly soul-crushing four-month tour of the USA, during which he criss-crossed the country several times but didn't see much more of it than the soulless interiors of chain motels. After getting back to the UK Gorman decided he wanted to see the 'real' America, the small towns with local businesses run independently of 'The Man'. And to do this he would cross the country from coast to coast and not once stop at a chain-owned motel or petrol station. Obviously, with local businesses rapidly becoming extinct in the USA, this is not as easy as it sounds.

The plus points first: like his earlier two books, this is a very funny and at times uplifting book. Gorman's writing style is engaging and, despite some parts of his plan being totally bonkers, he pulls you into his story and makes it all seem to make sense, even when a week after setting out from San Diego and having covered a thousand miles he has somehow ended up in Portland and is actually further west than when he started out. The stories of the people he meets along the way, such as the delightful owners of Taylor's Soda Fountain in Independence, Oregon, are also well-told. I suspect the owners of the treehouse resort in Takilma, Oregon and the Giant Beagle Hotel (a hotel in the shape of a huge dog) in Cottonwood, Idaho are going to see an upsurge in business as a result of this book. Gorman is quite honest about his own failings during the journey, such as his near-breakdown upon reaching Moab, Utah. The book also delivered an educational lesson about Mormonism. Prior to this book I hadn't looked at Mormonism at all and simply assumed it was just another Christian denomination (albeit one which had some odd ideas about marriage). Dave's rather disturbing encounter with the religion in Salt Lake City proved to be a bit of an eye-opener, to say the least.

Onto the downside. Whilst Dave's journey is highly enjoyable and informative, there isn't much depth to his mission. He never really analyzes why big chains are taking over from small businesses, even when he champions those small businesses who chase the big chains out of town or survive in the face of fierce competition from them. Also, there is a feeling of repetitiveness throughout the book. Because of the scarcity of independent petrol stations, there is a constant fear of the car running out of petrol, but the number of times that this is brought up borders on the tedious. Similarly, the number of times the car breaks down is as frustrating for the reader as it presumably was for the driver. These occurrences are often told well and usually lead to a great story about the kindness of local strangers or a similar event, but the reader can be forgiven for occasionally being hit by deja vu during the narrative. Slightly odder is the very abrupt end - the final few hundred miles are summarised in just a couple of lines - and some hyperbolic publicity for the book. Contrary to the back cover blurb, Dave is never held at gunpoint by anyone, although someone clearly intending to scare him off does show him his gun. Also, because the book ends the second the journey does, we don't really get to see any conclusions Dave draws from his journey.

The result is a very entertaining book which will hold the attention and is even fairly educational, but it is light on analysis.