What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

[Courtesy Flush]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/welcome-to-america-please-be-on-time-what-guide-books-tell-foreign-visitors-to-the-us/257993/?resubmit=again

Politics get heavy treatment in the books, as do the subtleties of discussing them, maybe more so than in any other guidebook I've read (what can I say, it's an addiction). Lonely Planet urges caution when discussing immigration. "This is the issue that makes Americans edgy, especially when it gets politicized," they write, subtly suggesting that some Americans might approach the issue differently than others. "Age has a lot to do with Americans' multicultural tolerance."
Rough Guide doesn't shy away from the fact that many non-Americans are less-than-crazy about U.S. politics and foreign policy, and encouragingly notes that many Americans are just as "infuriated" about it as visitors might be. Still, it warns that the political culture saturates everything, and that "The combination of shoot-from-the-hip mentality with laissez-faire capitalism and religious fervor can make the U.S. maddening at times, even to its own residents." They go on:

One of the commenters noted that the article omitted our practice of tipping in restaurants. That's pretty significant.

They imply that some cultures give money as a gift when invited to someone's home for dinner. As a typical American, yes, that would make me uncomfortable.

[iemitsu]

1. that was entertaining.

thanks for the link.

[treestar]

2. Very interesting

Seeing ourselves from the outside.

[XemaSab]

3. What a great article!

Thank you!

[Odin2005]

4. I am reminded of famous 50s anthropology paper on the "Nacirema".

"Nacirema" is American spelled backwards, it's a satirical paper serving as a cautionary tale against ethnocentric mentality towards "those tribes and their strange rituals".

[TroglodyteScholar]

5. Very good read, thanks for sharing n/t

[Retrograde]

6. I like reading foreign books on the US

I remember one trying to explain sales tax: it said something like "A seemingly random amount will be added to your purchases - this is a sales tax. It's similar to a VAT, but different rates rates apply in different areas. Don't even try to make sense of it - most locals don't understand it either."