America Unchained

Dave Gorman is disenchanted with America. He loves the people, the comedy, the language and the architecture, but during a nationwide tour he is struck by the unhappy realisation that this is not the America he's always admired from afar. What ever happened to the land of optimism, of opportunity?

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Dave Gorman is disenchanted with America. He loves the people, the comedy, the language and the architecture, but during a nationwide tour he realises he's unable to distinguish one small town from another. He is struck by the unhappy realisation that this is not the America he's always admired from afar. What ever happened to the land of optimism, of opportunity? With the corporations having taken over, it must be hard for a local coffee shop to thrive when a new Starbucks opens every five nanoseconds. Do the ever encroaching chains herald the end of the American dream? And so a plan begins to form. What if he was to avoid all chains, choosing instead to only support local, independent businesses, could he find America's lost soul?Is it possible during this time of rampant globalisation to find places to stay, places to eat, drink, caffeinate and be entertained without handing any dollars over to The Man? All he had to do was: Go to America - Buy a car - Don't give any money to The Man - Drive from coast to coast - Sell the car. And so he sets off on an epic journey from West to East, a trip designed to hark back to an America that may or may not have ever truly existed.
It is an adventure that takes in a whole spectrum of real-life eccentrics, and pushes his quintessentially American 1970 Ford Torino to the limits. But of course, once it begins his quest mutates into something bigger, bolder and more extreme than anyone was reckoning on. Oh, and funnier too.