''Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier'' is a 2004 collection of

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s compiled by American historian and author

Hampton Sides Wade Hampton Sides (born 1962) is an American historian, author and journalist. He is the author of '' Hellhound on His Trail,'' ''Ghost Soldiers,'' '' Blood and Thunder'', ''On Desperate Ground'', and other bestselling works of narrative histor ...

. The book was published in paperback on April 13, 2004 through Doubleday.

Summary

The book consists of several essays that Sides wrote while traveling through the United States and examining American cultures during a period of 15 years. Sides pays specific attention to

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

s that would fall under the topic of " Americana".

Reviews

Westword ''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...

'' gave a favorable opinion of ''Americana'', writing "Engendered by a crack facility for vivid, pictorial prose,

ides Ides or IDES may refer to: Calendar dates * Ides (calendar), a day in the Roman calendar that fell roughly in the middle of the month. In March, May, July, and October it was the 15th day of the month; in other months it was the 13th. **Ides of Mar ...

invites readers into each story with him." The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' was also favorable, stating "Much of the collection's charm rests in its gallivanting, "road trip" narrative form, with stops across the map, as Sides gathers the odd-fitting pieces that, once assembled, best define "Americana.""

References

{{reflist 2004 non-fiction books American travel books