{"product_id":"god-bless-america-stories-9780984592234","title":"God Bless America: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWINNER, PATERSON FICTION PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFINALIST, FOREWORD BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOUTSTANDING COLLECTION, THE STORY PRIZE \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLONGLIST, FRANK O'CONNOR INTERNATIONAL STORY PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBRONZE MEDALIST, INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e From a \"gifted storyteller\" who delivers \"always enjoyable, often hysterical stories\" (\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e) comes a meditation on the American Dream and its discontents. In his most ambitious collection yet, Steve Almond offers a comic and forlorn portrait of these United States: our lust for fame, our racial tensions, the toll of perpetual war, and the pursuit of romantic happiness. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the exuberant title story, a hapless would-be actor, desperate to escape the drudgery of his existence, lands the role of a lifetime. In \"Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched,\" reprinted in \u003cem\u003eBest American Short Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, a psychoanalyst with a secret gambling addiction squares off over the poker table against a damaged ex-patient. In \"First Date Back,\" a young woman becomes the target of a traumatized soldier's misguided hopes for love. And \"A Dream of Sleep,\" the collection's final story, presents a grief-stricken refugee who tends the graves of a forgotten cemetery, only to have his fragile peace shattered by an unwelcome visitor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Each of these thirteen stories is an urgent investigation of America's soul, its particular suffering, its injustices, its possibilities for redemption. With deft sleight of hand, Almond, \"a writer who knows us as well as we know ourselves\" (\u003cem\u003eHouston Chronicle\u003c\/em\u003e), leavens his disappointment and outrage with a persistent hope for the men and women who inhabit his worlds. \u003cem\u003eGod Bless America\u003c\/em\u003e offers us an astonishing vision of our collective fate, rendered in Almond's signature style of \"precise strokes . . . with metaphors so original and spot-on that they read like epiphanies\" (\u003cem\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/em\u003e). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Lookout Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/25\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780984592234\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 211\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e IndieFab awards - Honorable Mention\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Independent Publisher Book Awards - Bronze Medal Winner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/29\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2011 pg. 79\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2011 pg. 16\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2011 pg. 2048\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/17\/2011\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Steve Almond","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39992124113077,"sku":"9780984592234","price":15.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_fb65eb33-45f3-4dda-ac2c-ace7132e0f10.jpg?v=1620707271","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/god-bless-america-stories-9780984592234","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}