American The Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson

American The Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson is a travel book across America framed by the National Parks. I picked up the book hoping that it would be similar to Bill Bryson’s work.

It wasn’t.

But what was weird is that it wasn’t really the content (she did visit sooo many Parks) or the commentary (America is weird, imperfect, and you do see contradictions at Parks), but the actual style and pace of writing.

The book was written like a series of TikToks or YouTube Shorts…but in text form. There was no space to get any context or background. I wish an editor had worked with the author to make the book longer, break in side-trips, and provide a lot more context.

That said, the book did make me want to pick up Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods, In A Sunburned Country, and Paul Theroux’s Deep South.