USA - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture Paperback – 3 August 2021

Good and informative. This travel and/or immigration book has a mix of realism and idealism. The basics of the US are nicely described and clear: geography, history, economy, city/suburb/rural differences, can-do spirit, value of time, money making ideology, modern and traditional features.The largeness of the country makes the chapter sections, however, more general than the average travel book, which in the richly historical and photographed versions in DK country books is detailed far more than this book. New visitors to countries like the UK, Germany, Australia may get more out of the books as the culture is more focused and unique, and America's culture has become a world culture for many other countries. Regional culture as part of America is covered in other full length non-fiction books like "American Nations" by Colin Woodard.The last note is that the politics and government portion are very plain. A newer version of country summary books like this will have challenges in addressing the polarization of the two main parties with various local effects such as increased intensity of protests, and programs of tolerance of government financial overspending, zoning violations, and sometimes non-enforcement of misdemeanor crimes like disorderly conduct and public intoxication by state and city governments.

Compendio di tradizioni usi e costumi negli USA. Preso per la mia fidanzata, è rimasta soddisfatta, per cui lo consiglio.

C'est un livre très intéressant, complet de tous les informations sur la vie dans les EU. Si vous voulez aller là, je vous conseil de le lire.

Klar und realistisch geschrieben. Hilfreich um die Mentalität und Werte von US Amerikaner zu verstehen.Wurde es empfehlen für allgemein Reisende und Geschäftsleute.

I wanted to read this because I like Alan Beechey's novels, and also I thought it would be fascinating, as an American born and bred, to read about a very different perspective on us. I'm glad I did, because it was fascinating, with some solid insights and an entertaining voice.Naturally, the USA is big, and we span quite an assortment of subcultures- all of whom are very good at misunderstanding each other as well as non-natives do! So while the generalizations are true in general, "patriotism" has vastly different nuances and behaviors depending on where you are and who you're with. Similarly manners: I grew up in the northern Midwest, and while we can come across as being rather stand-offish, especially compared to the South, I don't think there's a lot of inherent difference in meaning, just in how it's expressed- which can certainly be confusing! Like, Minnesotan for "Yes, yes PLEASE!!!" is something like "Well, I wouldn't mind." In other words, we and Southerners both have a lot of nuances, and these are frequently diametrically opposed!The brief run-downs of both American history and our system of government were some of the clearest I've ever read, although the latter does not begin to cover the political strife that is escalating currently.Likewise, while we tend to idealize rugged individualism, I'd bet almost all of us are not actually rugged individualists ourselves, and would not actually like it if we had to live thus.One seeminly minor error that I do want to mention, which is especially important for guests to our country to know: Tipping. Tipping in various venues is utterly necessary. The book suggests for restaurants a 15% tip and says that the servers make minimum wge, which they do NOT. They make substantially BELOW minimum wage per hour, rely on tips to fill in the gaps, and this is why in general one needs to tip 20%- and not doing so will lead to prejudice against whatever country the guest hails from.In general, though, this was a fun and educational summarizing of the USA and its people in 164 pages, from a very different perspective. I would love to read more such guidebooks!