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Customs, Manners & Morals   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Angry Island, Hunting the English  •  A. Gill
ANTHOLOGY •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 227 PAGES
An owner's manual to the English, this over-the-top comic primer by the splendidly irreverent London critic A. A. Gill includes scathing chapters on voice, humor, drink (I am an alcoholic), animals, garden, sport and class. Gill explains, rather unnecessarily that though he lives in London, for obvious reasons he spends as much time as possible abroad. (GBR715, $24.00)
  Angry Island, Hunting the English
The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America  •  Bill Bryson
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 314 PAGES
Heading out from his native Des Moines, Bryson makes his way through 38 of these United States, tossing off hilarious observations of the American character and roadscapes. Forgive Bryson's cheap shots at fat people and "hicks," he's an acerbic, witty guide to the country with a well-developed sense of the absurd. (USW180, $14.95)
  The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America
Why I Hate Canadians  •  Will Ferguson
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2007 •  PAPER  • 305 PAGES
An enlightening, tongue-in-cheek survey of Canadian history, politics and attitudes in a 10th anniversary edition. This is the collection of essays is the book that launched Ferguson's career. (CND154, $19.95)
  Why I Hate Canadians
La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind  •  Beppe Severgnini
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2007 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • NEW
A witty guide to the Italian character, hugely popular in Italy, including the apparently never-ending Italian passion for beauty, great love of disorder and high emotion. An Italian journalist, Severgnini opens with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa airport, taking the unwary reader firmly by the hand on a journey to Milan,Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. He hilariously points out Italian rituals and quirks from the highway to hotels, bedrooms, restaurants, the office and beach. (ITL718, $12.95)
  La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
The Frenchman  •  Philippe Halsman  •  Art Buchwald
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2005 •  HARD COVER  • 108 PAGES
This much-loved book, out of print for 50 years, captures something inimitable about the French. It's a highly visual Q&A, featuring the great portrait photographer Philippe Halsman (famous for the Life magazine portrait of Marilyn Monroe among other iconic images) and the vaudeville actor Fernandel. Halsman asked irreverent questions about America and recorded Fernandel's facial expression in response. With 24 black-and-white portraits and humorous accompanying captions on the difference between the French and Americans. (FRN574, $19.99)
  The Frenchman
70 Japanese Gestures  •   Hamiru-aqui
LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2005 •  PAPER  • 158 PAGES
A clever, useful guide to decoding body language in Japan. With 70 black-and-white photographs of engineer Takafumi Hamada demonstrating each gesture, along with accompanying expressions and explanation. Hamiru-aqui includes both everyday gestures and slang. (JPN193, $9.95)
  70 Japanese Gestures
Swedish Mentality  •  Ake Daun
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  PAPER  • 236 PAGES
The Swedes -- What are they like? Daun elucidates such issues of national character as why Swedes distrust elevators and why Swedes like to fish, then valiantly poses that most unaskable of questions: why are Swedes so dull? (His question, not ours.) The English translation of the hugely successful book published in Sweden in 1989 (SWE21, $25.95)
  Swedish Mentality
Why Switzerland?  •  Jonathan Steinberg
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  PAPER  • 300 PAGES
A sweeping study of the Swiss character and an examination of how Switzerland, alone in western Europe, resisted centralization of its state and economy and membership in the European Union. Its unique institutions, direct democracy, absence of strikes, communal autonomy and four national languages make it unique, but can it last? Through lucid descriptions of history, politics, religion, and culture, this book captures what it means to be Swiss. Illustrated with black-and-white photos and maps. (SWZ04, $33.99)
  Why Switzerland?
 

Related Categories
Savoir Rire, The Humorists' Guide to France  •  Robert Wechsler   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A delightful collection of cartoons, stories and anecdote illuminating the French character. (FRN331, $10.95)
 
 
Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Patterns of Japanese Culture  •  Ruth Benedict  •  Ezra Vogel   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Published in the aftermath of World War II, this brilliant exploration of the Japanese psyche and culture retains its interest today, as much for its perspective on the West as for insights about the Japanese character. (JPN23, $15.00)
 
 
French or Foe? Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France  •  Polly Platt   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  With humor, directness and great insight, this compact book is an expert, entertaining guide to the French and how to get along with them. An expanded third edition includes the French romance with cell phones and a short chapter with recent vignettes. (FRN54, $16.95)
 
 
The French  •  Theodore Zeldin   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT • OUT OF PRINT  •  A stimulating and very entertaining social history in the guise of a "how-to" book. Zeldin considers, for example, such imponderables as when to laugh at a joke, how to be friends with a peasant, and how to eat properly. (FRN31, $17.00)
 
 
The Nature of Prejudice  •  Gordon W. Allport   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  A pioneering social psychologist, Allport tackles the role of stereotyping, victimization, ethnic division, upbringing and group behavior with scholarship, anecdote and sparkling prose in the 25th anniversary edition of his classic. (GEN222, $25.00)
 
 
The Undutchables, An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture and Inhabitants  •  Colin White   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  A laugh-out-loud, irreverent guide to understanding Dutch character and habits, covering topics such as home, money, children and politics. (NTH12, $15.00)
 
 
American Notes for General Circulation  •  Charles Dickens   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Dickens was one of many Englishmen who traveled to America, fascinated by the character of the youthful nation. His account of his 1842 voyage is descriptive and often funny. (USM116, $13.00)
 
 
Journey to the Alcarria, Travels Through the Spanish Countryside  •  Camilo Jose Cela   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  The Spanish novelist and 1989 Nobel Prize-winner, writes of his travels on foot in the Alcarria region of Spain in this classic book, originally published in 1948. (SPN239, $8.95)
 
 


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