California Graffiti

Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht has been living in California for twenty years, and he's had an American passport for the last ten. Ever since gaining citizenship he has been asking himself what it really means to be an American. He has travelled the length and breadth of his new homeland and has already described the differences between the American and European lifestyles from a multitude of different angles. In Californian Graffiti he writes about the legendary icons associated with the United States, about trailer parks and American football, New York and San Francisco, the light on the West Coast, American humour and the democratic aristocracy of the universities, as well as Disneyland and women's blouses. Accurately sketching concise scenes from everyday life, he shows us what is so special and unique about West Coast culture, which has never lost its fascination and surprise for the European who has made America his adopted home.